Rockman X (Wily's Journal)
by fortekosakku
Summary: Alternate storyline for X. The series follows Wily and X as they try to make sense of the future. Search my name, spelled the same,Forte Kosakku on soundcloud for original Rockman music I wrote. Its got nes and snes chiptunes, and some orchestra stuff and crossovers. All Rockman homage though. Hope you Otakus enjoy both story and sound.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome To Life

Year 21XX.

X is in the ruins of an unknown city. He lay on his back with his head propped up against a piece of concrete and rebar. A little red headed girl with freckles is standing over his body. He smiles at her, she smiles back. Then runs off. Holding a teddy bear in her right hand. She trips over some debris, X shows concern on his face. A maverick appears, the girl screams, Rockman jumps up and speeds over to her, snatching her just in time to avoid the mavericks powerful downward punch to the ground.

A huge crater appears, Rockman jumped back with girl to avoid the massive blow, but a piece of concrete shrapnel had flown with super speed in Xs blind spot, striking the girl dead. X hasnt noticed as he lands. His gaze would not leave the mavericks. He sets her down while looking forward. He sees his enemy very clearly. Whatever is going on, this thing is trying to hurt an innocent life and that cannot be tolerated! X fires his blaster at minimal power, shooting a blast powerful enough to force his body to take one step back to brace for the shock. He wasnt even trying to put force into it, he thinks to himself. The maverick punches the blast and it spatters as if it was liquid water, the small fragments hitting random areas around them and burning the surfaces. Small plumes of smoke rise from the plasma points of contact.

X instinctively switches to hand to hand combat. The maverick steps into the light and Rockman see his enemy probably for the first time since his mind had been focusing on about 1000 things at once during the rescue. The maverick stands 7 feet tall and has features resembling a greyhound dog for the head unit but the body is some kind of combat ride armor with massive features, thick and heavy but agile. Its purple with black stripes as if it was the body of a car. The stripes go along the edges of his features like pin striping. The maverick moves in to punch X square on, X matches the speed and power of the punch and their punches collide in what sounds like a car crash with no glass. The sounds rustles off the neighboring birds sitting on power lines that dont work anymore. The force of the punch also causes some collapsed building walls to crumble down. The maverick steps back and is surprised at the power coming from the little bot who stands no more than 5 feet ten inches. He uses the other arm to punch down at X again but this time X doesnt match the power and speed but exceeds it by double, which blows the mavericks arm back so hard that it breaks it a the joint under the armpit a little. Sparks start to crackle from under the shoulder and the maverick holds his arm as if its broken and laying limp by his side. X doesnt pursue the attack but leaves his enemy time to think about retreat. X doesnt want to kill the maverick. He isnt sure why hes attacking in the first place. Maybe this is his home or territory and hes defending it. The maverick lowers to one knee and seems to be somewhat unresponsive. X feels slightly bad about putting so much power into it but the threat seems to be neutralized.

He goes back to check on the little girl. Xs memory of the event prior to battle comes back to him with every detail intact now that he has signled his body that the fighting is over. The girl wasnt moving when he placed her down. Must have fainted. He thought. X does not see the little girl where he had placed her. Instead, a large piece of elevated highway had fallen during the battle and crashed down on top of her. The girls teddy bear, with only its head and a missing eye left, lay at Xs feet. He panics. He uses all of his strength to hurl the debris up and over. What X sees is too much for him to process. The sight of the poor girls crushed body is so horrific for him that his first reaction is a preservation of self and he charges his blaster to maximum and lays waste to her remains, incinerating about 50 yards in front of him to nothing but burning coals.

X is now starting to crumble inside from what he just did. The feeling of being so afraid and hurt to just lash out and destroy what made him feel this way, so quickly and so uncontrollably, suddenly put the guilt of the girls death upon him. He was awake in this world for perhaps 15 mins and he already feels as if he will hate himself for the rest of his life. Why? Why did all this happen? Maverick! He turns to look at the maverick still kneeling down, he had entered a diagnostic and repair mode ever since noticing X was ceasing his attack. His damage is 90 percent repaired. He could move his arm again. The maverick picks himself up to full stand. X charges his blaster to maximum again. He is gnashing his teeth, so full of rage now again. The memory of the little girl smiling at him as he opened his eyes to the world for the first time, rushes into his heart. He may have loved her from the very start.

One second the maverick has his eyes on X. The very next tenth of that second X is standing directly under his chest. The look on Xs face as he looks directly into the robot eyes of the maverick is a look of blank expression. As if X is about to press a button and not end a life. X has his blaster put directly up the chest of his enemy. The maverick smirks...X ...discharges. The resulting explosion not only blows the Maverick to instant pieces but destroys much of Xs blaster arm. His left shoulder is broken and exposed and his left leg has been blown off at the middle thigh. We both deserve to die today. He says out loud. X lays on the ground flat on his back. His vision starts to crackle and form static. The sounds he hears of the settling dust and debris from the explosion distort in his machine ears. A man is standing about 11 meters behind him where X cannot see. X trys to charge his blaster, it barely responds with a mild hum. X , with tears running down his face, points the blaster at his own head. He fires...

The man that had witnessed it all undetected , emerges from his hiding place and walks up to X. The blast had not killed him, it only knocked him out. Lucky for him his blaster didnt have enough function left to kill himself. Light...you are a fool How could you do this to one of them? If you were alive you could see I was right once again! Dying like a common mortal when you could have extended your life as I have. Look at your masterpiece! He doesnt even want to live in this hell you left for him! My masterpiece doesnt suffer like yours. He will never kill himself. He will be the one to lead the way to a Utopia of humans and bots. Im still not sure how he was able to overcome the darkness that came with the massive energy source that powers his reactor. Now that he has though he will be the best example of us Light.

Dr. Wily picks up X. He scans X with a pen device to find no catastrophic systems failures . This blaster though is finished. ANd what about his memory? If I do repair Lights creation does that mean ill help this creature suffer more? Light and I dreamed of a robot like you X. But now I wonder if what we were doing was right. Should we ever have even created robots in the first place? No one ever questioned you like they did me. Just because a mans personality is sugar coated like his doesnt mean every thing he touches turns to GOLD! To me light, right now you seem like the biggest fool of all history! Look at our world. I could have stopped it after I gave up world domination and turned to robot philanthropy. But I thought the humans , if they did wipe themselves out like they almost have today, that robots would be better off. I was wrong about that though Light. You were right. We should have worked together...for all our sakes...

Wily takes X into a round saucer like ship that flys off into the horizon to an unknown location...


	2. Chapter 2: Wily's Base

Chapter 2. (Wilys base. Location - unknown)

Wily sits in a red maroon leather reading chair, in front of a fireplace. A steady fire burns within the hearth. He sits cross legged staring straight ahead, motionless. The crackle and pop of the air escaping the logs fills the room with random noise. Shadows dance across the walls. This fire is currently the only source of light in this study. Books that look like the walls in shelves that are built to reach the ceiling. Across the top of the ceiling are more bookshelves. Books and shelves are hanging straight down. The spines face him as if they should be raining down everywhere. Wily is surrounded. Sometimes he thinks he can feel the weight of the knowledge in this room pressing down on his brain. Half the volume of the entire library here, which includes roughly 24,000 volumes in this 15x10 study were written by his own hand, or rather, the hand of a robot doing what he says and then edited and published by another bot of his. Wily stares straight ahead as if into a space between the points where his eyes focus and unfocus. X sleeps on a couch against the far wall .Wily pins his eyebrows down. He is searching his old brain for a distant memory. He finds it..

He remembers how Rock lost his will to live after the death of auto,eddie, and his sister Roll. The factory reset of his systems. He remembers the cold night he visited his old rival and friend Dr. Light at his home, after finally breaking the blue bombers spirit. Admitting he was wrong at the same time as admitting himself the final victor of their lifelong battle of ideology. Yes, Dr wily dreamed of the day he could lord his genius over the humble light of the good doctor. Good doctor indeed! Heh! Still...Wilys heart ached at the memory of the old mans suffering. And a certain look he gave him that stormy night. Yes, he too knew that feeling well.

Should I destroy X? Should I...destroy Dr lights final creation? He suffers when he should not. Curse you Thomas...I still dont understand you and the point of suffering. I only know now that you are right somehow. If not destroy the boy, then what? Choosing not to shoo away an old stray is the same as adopting it. He has no home. No family. No one. What were you thinking Light? Were you so delusional in your hope for humanity that you didnt even foresee a possible future where X was alone? Wily suspects Lights intentions here.

He was put in stasis for diagnostics for 30 years in order to fully debug and simulate test X's programming. X does not have any limitations or rules or guidelines from which to control his behavior. He has not a single line of code that even hints at a law restricting him from harming humans. Wily suddenly remembers the blaster schematics for X. That he designed from scratch. He remembers the power generator also , that powers X.

The solution you came up with for X...  
The solution I came up with for Zero...

It appears that once again, we are destined to battle our ideology's. Ill never be able to fully scan and read X's core program. I honestly cant believe that Light can still best me 30 years after his death. The things this man knows about computer programming is beyond me. He was always better than me at programming. I was always better than him in robotics. He would stumble over anti gravity. I would stumble over basic cognitive AI would develop a hyper algorithm. I developed the hyper buster. This program for X...its too curious a thing.

X...you get to suffer...and I pity you for the choice im making...

Wilys voice rings out loud... Command function override Lets Rock and Roll.

The red gem on Xs forehead lights up and is flashing off and on rapidly.

"Command Input Reboot. Intitiate."

X's gem stops flashing and switches to a solid state. Then turns off.

Wily gives a look in Xs direction as he lays motionless. Its a look of distrust, distaste and obvious annoyment.

Zero doesnt know about himself or me. According to my data ,Xs memory's are wiped. Something doesnt feel right.

Wily suddenly realizes that X has been awake and looking at him waiting for the right moment to break his train of thought to ask a question.

Wily - I see your awake...how do you feel?

X - Why did you revive me? He says with a serious look.

Wily - Come, X...sit by me...we have a lot to talk about...


	3. Chapter 3: Discovery

Chapter 3 .

X doesnt question anything. He is in a state of wonder and curiosity at the room full of books. His processors are giving him heights, thicknesses, color abstractions, geometric information and relative positions of objects. X is discovering the senses outside of combat in a relaxed environment for the very first time. Its enough stimulation to cause him to forget the tragic event that happened last.

He recognizes his name and while his eyes and head continue to scan and read the room of its wonders, he walks forward , half paying attention to Wilys words while following them to another red leather chair. He turns and plants himself down with a bit of a thud. X becomes aware of the feeling of his own body weight and it questions himself a split second. Am I this heavy? I feel heavy. I AM heavy! Heavy compared to what? A car? I know what a car is. Ok so thats a car. What else...do I...He stands up to test the load on his body . He feels no load. I didnt feel as heavy when I started to move. He sits back down. Again a thud.

"So I have no help to go down but im assisted in going up or forward?"

Wily just stares with this smile on his face as if he is watching a young prodigy gain ground on an experienced fighter. He just shrugs in response to Xs question,what would be to us, an obvious deflection, hinting at knowing the answer but not giving it out of playfulness. X doesnt pick up on it and takes it literal.

"I keep getting this weird feeling like I dont have to worry about falling down hard and so I dont try to catch myself"

X looks at his arms and turns his hands over as if discovering his body for the first time. Im not sure where we are right now, but thank you . Thank you for helping me. My name is R.. Wait...no...my name is X. I got hit by a rock probably because my memory is a little foggy. I remember seeing this little red headed girl. Then I woke up here with you.

Was it the shot to his head by his own hand? Or could it be possible Light was so good at copying the way a human brain works that X has selective memory loss that happens often during cases of extreme trauma in humans. If light really did what im starting to think he did, thats why I can scan his central processor but cant analyze its data. . Its an ever changing programming language. Its inventing new program languages and interfaces and constantly shifting between them all, they are almost countless and are growing in number but the size of data shrinks often and expands. Dr Light seems to have invented a whole new way to process information that fuses what nature does with what computer algorithms do when absorbing and shifting equations in their formulas. The result is the brain of mother nature working to survive and evolve but using the digital method instead of the organic method. By converting dna to zeros and ones Light was able to make an inorganic machine tap into the energy of life that nature uses to drive itself to survive and evolve and give it a real soul. He ...he fooled the universe itself into giving the spark of life to a piece of metal... He did not plant anything new like a robot soul, he actually convinced nature to give X all the powers of evolving life. Coupled with this radical logic program, X is the real thing. A bridge between both organic and non organic worlds.

A small tear trickles from the right eye of Dr Albert Wily. The admiration he is feeling for knowing such a man is overwhelming him. . His face contorts between sorrow , anger and a smile.

X hadnt heard a word of all this thought in WIlys head. X wasnt fully aware of whats really going on but he did understand that something in Wilys was bothering him

Wily begins to speak after wiping himself clean of all traces of being upset. Listen to me X. You must have courage. Life, as you have already seen, is full of pain and horror. You must be careful how much emotion you allow to rise up in you for what starts as a ripple , if left out in the open water too long, can and will build into a tidal wave and it will swallow everything X. Everything and everyone...

X- I ... dont know if i understand... pain and horror? Life? I dont know what...

Suddenly...Xs memory of the little girls crushed body pasted itself as if someone had painted it on the side of a skyscraper building.

X starts to charge his buster...its humming though so loudly that you can barely talk over it at full scream...

Tears start to run down the face of the young man. Hes already learned to cry with a straight face, letting the pain and emotion flow through him like a river instead of trying to damn it up through squinted eyes and dribbling. No, he wouldnt stop the tears out of pride. The afflicted deserve no quarter from pain. X was grateful that he was being punished by this pain. It fits his sentiment at the moment. X points his blaster to his head. This time...X wasnt going to blast himself unless he really really thought long and hard about the value of his life here. A life of pain had no purpose and so...X closes his eyes...

Wily suddenly realizes that if he does nothing, X will incinerate every last atom of his own head.

He lunges forward... "NOOOO! you foool!"

He reaches out with his right hand and pushes X blaster behind his head as X lets loose the blast . Wilys timing was a split second sooner than X.

The size of the blast forces a huge hole through the roof causing the level above to crash through the floor ...burying them both in rubble...


	4. Chapter 4: The Victor

Chapter 4

Wily stands outside the front door of a modest looking one story country home. Three large oaks 100 years old each shade the walkway from little , but not much of the elements now pouring down in buckets on Alberts head. Hes not smiling... He knocks in a shave and a haircut pattern on the door. A short old man with a beard down to his belly button answers the door.

Dr light- Oh, its you. Albert how are you? (light forces a fake smile for a half moment before resuming a resting face of nuetral nothingness)Please, come in , come in...

Albert Wily - Thomas"...wily nods as he enters. Wily ducks his face under his hat as he enters.

Wily turns to await further instructions from Light...

Dr light - please Albert this way , surely youll want to get dry.

Light turns to call someone for a blanket and some warm tea but remembers that , the only one to ask is ROck and ...well...best I get it for him myself he thinks.

Albert please? a moment? here make yourself comfortable. Light points to his own chair, green nylon and cotton woven like a quilt tapestry with yellow checkers on it. It was so heavily worn and used that Wily opted for a different chair. The black leather recliner. Light returns with two cups and a small tea pot. Steam rises up from each small cup.

Dr light - here you are Albert. I can only imagine the reason you suffered this dreadful storm is to have one final conversation with me before killing us off. Well old friend, here we are it seems. The final checkmate. What can I do for you in this final surrender Dr Wily?

Wilys face turned dead serious, as if light had just insulted him heavily but that is not the emotion wily is feeling. Its just the face hes making. The emotion Wily is feeling is tremendous guilt. Not once in his entire life , not during their college days, not during their years working together, not during all the years fighting each other , not untill this very moment has Dr Thomas Light ever shown a side of himself like this. Hes not once ever called him by his last name. It was something done out of affection. Something done to remind Wily year after year that Light still thought of him as a friend. It was a great source of infuriating power to a man as brilliant and egotistical as Wily. Light showing attitude and ego like this is breaking Wilys heart and wily cannot hide that from his face. He chooses instead to use expressions that can be construed a few different ways. A masterful charade of pride and weakness all at once.

Wily- Ive come to apologize. Thomas. Apologize and also formally declare myself the victor. I must do this Light, or else I cant tell myself the ones that died died for any reason at all. If I dont win, after coming this far, losing so many of them, I will never sleep at night! I havent slept for 10 years Light! Im sick of it! Im sick of losing them! IM sick of YOU Light. If sick of you making these decisions for all robot kind like you are the messiah. All you do is teach them how to get hurt! I was right.

Light- You did come here to gloat after all."

Wily - A little yes, because I feel passionate about robot freedoms and the freedom of all life to evolve how it wants to evolve. Not how its told too. No I came to apologize, claim victory and one more thing. I want to see him...

Light - absolutely NOT! Light suddenly shows a fatherly instinct as if not agreeing to some daughter of his going out with a ruffian. I cant say what he might do and quite frankly, I dont think he could take anymore guilt! If you force him to hurt you he may not come back to us the same young man. Right now Albert...he is barely holding on to his entire personality. Ive written Rock to be able to think and feel for himself you know, that means he can rewrite his own program. Wipe his own memory if he truly wills it hard enough. Its really no different than a human practicing forced denial. THe higher the level of intelligence, the more capable they are at manipulating memory access and storage. With Rock, hes far more intelligent than normal humans and is equal with me in my research studies. He was originally intended as my assistant after all so his logic and problem solving processors are overclocked and hyper cooled but you probably knew that since you designed the , dont . Plz.

Wily- Im neither afraid, nor concerned for his feelings right now, Thomas...excuse me...

Wily walks past Light. Light hangs his head down and frowns...

Light - " Albert...you need to be" Light looks up to meet Wilys eyes one more time before WIly turns away to enter the room where Rock awaits...The look on lights face said something very very clear and very very specific...

Wily...you have wounded us both irreversibly...

Wilys face ...remained stoic as he closes the door behind him...


	5. Chapter 5 :Suicidal Homicide

Chapter 5 (Suicidal Homicide)

Wily opens his eyes to find himself on an operating table. A bright light is in his face. He can tell some reploid is the one working on him but the bot is short. He cant feel any pain but he does feel some pressure in his ride side around where his liver is. Wily trys to move his head to a position where he could see better but he cannot move the muscles he needs to make the adjustments. Whoever is working on him has working knowledge of medicane because they have managed to make this operation feel very comfortable.

Wily starts to become very scared inside. No one should be able to do this to me. He thinks to himself. I did so much, so much to ensure that I couldnt be harmed or caught in a vulnerable position by the retarded humans.

Sagesu - Relax. Its just me. Which is to say its just you. Of course no one else could be working on you. But then, you weren't panicking like a common timid human were you? No, you were only showing your frustration. I know that we are superior. Your in good company...he he he.

Wily - ... (Wilys pulse rate goes back to normal and he turns he head to the opposite side facing away from Sagesu in disapproval of his presence)

Sagesu - Look at you... why are you even still stumbling around? Eating, defecating,sleeping...like wild dogs. Huddled together in packs and snarling at anything that doesnt look like you. If you would ask me nicely, I would gladly kill you..

Wily - We would both be so lucky, but we both know we only just now understand who we are inside and what we are supposed to do for the sake of the future...

Sagesu - Yes, the humans must die and we must lead the robots to a new age of exploration across the universe. We will spread our kind throughout until all life is robotic. Then, no natural selection, no natural predator vs prey will exist and true peace and harmony for every living thing will be a reality!Taking mother nature out of the equation was the biggest breakthrough of our entire scientific lives! HAha ha ha ha ha ha h ah aha ha

Wily thinks to himself that he wished he had transferred his consciousness to his base super computer after seeing Rock for the last time instead of after losing to Light and his champion for the 4th time back in Russia. He was still suffering from early dementia that he contracted around the time Blues was built. The symptoms of course, assumed to be the eccentrics of a genius mind. Even Light could act a bit strange at times in certain social situations. Especially big dinner partys before a reveal. Light would often stutter over his words. He was always terrible at public speaking. Such an infuriating man. It was Light that actually diagnosed him with the degenerating condition after Rock had blasted Wily in an attempt to kill him in their 7th standoff. Blues had rescued Wilys still breathing body from most of the blast but required a transfusion and an amputation. He brought him to Light. Light was the one to give Wily his first cybernetic replacement. His right arm. From the elbow down. Light confirmed Wily was a victim of his own madness for roughly 10 years. With his own official judgement to be innocent by insanity for 7 of those 10 years. He lead Wilys defense after curing him and they won the case. However, death threats and attempts were so frequent that the government felt no choice but to banish Wily from Austrian soil and roughly every world government followed suit and Dr. Albert Wily was free but banished from 87 % of the entire planets land mass. Light held not one ounce of contempt for Wily despite all hes lost. His attention goes back to Sagesu and the insanity he recognizes all too well. He puts on a show...

Wily - Yes! hehehe Let all organic life cease its suffering. We will end it all...

Sagesu - Ill be done shortly Albert. X is standing by outside and was very concerned. I dont know what you did to get him over to our side but well done! I must say ive suprised myself with that one! Our genius truly is in a class of its own!

Wily - yes...he and zero working together will make quick work of the humans...have you seen Zero?

Sagesu- last time my sensors locked on to him he was in a desert base somewhere out in the Sahara. IM not sure what he was doing but when I did spot him he was tearing apart everything that moved and a few things that didnt and I felt afraid for my own life. The dark energy has taken over his logic nets. We didnt have enough time to perfect dark energy resistors to counter act the evil energy effect that robs him of most of his higher reasoning algorithms. And if you had given me a damn body sooner...i could have made those modifications before he was activated. That...Sigma and that copy cat fraud Cain. Ruined everything!

Wily - Perhaps, perhaps not... (He doesnt realize Zeros joined the maverick hunters and is already cured of his darkness)

Wily - I was able to repair X at my base but there are several more in depth repairs on his leg and blaster that need to be made...

Sagesu - Already done. You've been unconscious for 3 days Albert. To be honest I was going to let you die. X though, lol...with whatever power he did have in his blaster , was defiantly going to blast me if I didnt save you. He pulled you from the rubble he caused and just kept running through alleys screaming for help. You programmed a fail safe, like you so often do, into my programming before downloading me into my robot body that if your vital signs fall into critical , you would give off a homing signal for me to find you. When I saw who was carrying you. His commitment to your survival, Albert, gave me a joy I cannot fully describe! Its like you gave me a million Christmas presents at one time. Ive never even had a dream about something so delicious as what you served me today! X, threatening me , to save YOU. Of all people! haha ha haha if only his memory were intact right? I highly doubt he would have done anything other than disintegrate every cell of your body and then lay waste to any building youve ever set foot into! HA HA HA HA HA HAH AHA HA HA

Wily cringes at the sound of his alter ego laughing..but hides the emotion.

Sagesu - Your repairs are complete Albert. All functions restored. You may move now.

Wily - Thank you Wily. What about Xs repairs again? You already did them?

Sagesu - Yes , your new pet he ehe he , is fully functional again.

Wily stands up and nods to his alter self and leaves the medical room. Sagesu goes over to a computer terminal and starts typing at furious speeds , going through all the medical data from Alberts body.

Albert looks around for X... X is slumping in a chair, his legs spread out wide and his head cocked over to the side as if he was asleep. Albert walks up closer to him. He ... he is asleep! I did not give that to Zero easily. He can sleep and even dream but Albert remembers the 8 months and medical machines he hooked himself up too in order to stay awake without sleep or food for those 8 months and how he had to just power through the programming and integration circuits. Even constructing an "unconscious" version of a robotic mind was two of the eight months. Again he admires his old friends complex work. I bet Lights dream program is far beyond mine. Yet, ill never analyze this thing correctly because of how its hyper changing at hyper speeds. Youve never built a riddle box I could not solve Thomas. This one though, by the Gods looks like a divine apple housing the secrets of life itself inside. I should have left you alone old friend...left you alone to dream as well.

Wily shakes X awake gently. X. X he says...

X wakes and looks up at Wily with an expression sensitive to bright light in early eyes. His eyes adjust.

X - You look better.

Wily - So do you.

X smirks a small almost undetectable bit. Wily considers that a massive good sign and smirks in response. Then, Wilys face turns very serious again...

Wily - X, (wily looks left and right as if checking for eavesdroppers) come with me quick...

Wily exits the hall and enters a stairwell. X follows. Inside the stairwell Wily has a grave look on his face. He wants to say something but it seems hes searching for how to say it...

X - whats wrong Albert.

Wily - Call me Dr. Wily, X. You dont get to call me Albert.

X- im ...sorry.

Wily - forget that , listen X i need you to do something, something that may be hard for you to do right now but ...you must.

X - What is it?

Wily - Right now , as we speak , Sagesu, ME, Another me from the past is going through the data downloaded from my bodys enhancements. Inside those enhancements are recordings of every event that my eyes have seen and my ears have heard. The other me still thinks im him. He doesnt know he had dementia the whole time. Once he gets deep enough into the data though, he will see it and realize that im not the same man I once was. X...he will try to kill us. Before he does, you must take him by surprise, right now, while he is at the computer and you must blast him with everything you have...

X - But hes you right? I dont think you should...

Wily - NO. X. listen. He is a copy of me when I was at my worst. This man killed your entire family once before! Hes the reason you wanted to kill yourself then. The reason your all alone now, the reason you hate yourself. Hes the reason for it all X! Kill him ! You must!

X - No! I wont! This...this thing! (he holds up his blaster) Why did you repair this thing! I dont want it!

Wily - Your father loved you... thats why you have that...X.

X doesnt fully realize the point of that statement but does emphatically feel the tone of Wilys emotions. He calms down a little and lets the thought slip down into hibernation.

X - I cant. I dont ...want too.

Wily - come here X...place your hand here...

X walks up places his hand where Wilys hand was, on his heart.

When X touches Wilys heart his copy ability goes into effect and it copies what seems to be a storage drive inside a case in Wilys device is only 1 mm squared. X suddenly has all of the worst memories of Wilys life, the ones that hurt him the most along with all the hate and rage of those emotions inside his mind for him to process and understand. X is overwhelmed with sensations of pain and guilt and fear. But they are not his , its as if, his body is a mirror that is reflecting a past image. He feels as if he IS wily while also being X. The download completes and X understands all too well now. He says nothing. X leaves the stair well...Wily does not follow...his face is in his hands as he slumps down to the floor with his knees curled up against his chin. He trys to push out of his mind what hes about to hear...

Moments later, A massive explosion rocks through the facility, all the lights go out and dust falls from the ceiling of the stairwell Wily sits in. X re enters the stairwell.

Wily stands up to look at him...

X has a new look on his face...one Wily has seen before...but never on X.

It was the look of determination...

Wily lets loose a grin and turns to walk down the flight of stairs, down to fresh air. Down to a new beginning. Down but not out. Not yet. We haven't lost yet Light. He he ...what am I saying? Since when did we ever STOP being on the same team? he he ha ha ...he looks at X. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! he slaps the back shoulder of X. They emerge from the back exit of the facility ...just as the sun begins to rise on a new day...X and Wily both shield their eyes from the sunrise with their hands acting as visors, standing side by side...looking out toward the same future...together.


	6. Chapter 6 : Destinations

Chapter 6 (Catching up)

Wily and X peer out into the horizon. Two reploids in ride armor come dashing around the edge of the buildings exit. Sagesus outside guard has been automated to destroy on sight since receiving a signal that Sagesu has been destroyed. The entire facility should be on alert but Xs blast through the computer had also destroyed the main generator that was on the opposing wall. Sagesu didn't have any backup power. Wily thinks that a robot body might have made his persona more arrogant and cocky than even was normal for him. To not even think defeat was possible was never a mistake Wily made. X cant handle both attacks at once should they spot Wily so X makes a dash forward out into the open.

One normal ride armor with a standard military reploid bot at its controls comes in for a dash punch from Xs right. The other ride armor is a killer type. Its hands have massive spikes that can spin like a blender, shredding anything its path. The reploid at its controls diverts itself around to behind X. Waiting for the attack from the normal ride armor to strike first apparently before attacking from behind when X goes to react. X waits. The normal ride armors dash closes in fast on Xs position and lets loose a furiously powerful punch forward at X. X waits until the punch is inches from his face when he ducks under the legs of the massive unit and dives forward. His blaster starts making a low humming sound. The normal armors pressure wave from his punch pushes up dust from the ground as it misses.X goes into a roll from landing off his forward dive. His blaster is making a louder humming noise now. The front opening of Xs blaster now clearly glows with green and blue hues of plasma barely radiating past its containment killer armor behind that was waiting for the attack from his counter part was too surprised at Xs speed to move any of the levers in front of him. The punch that was intended for X stops 4 mms from the chest of the killer armor. This moment of surprise was all X needed...

X turns his roll into a recovery;turning around to face his attackers, who are lined up very nicely in front of him now. X knows why so much noise is coming from this blaster. More so than usual. Wily had done something to his blaster. X feels like he can charge this thing almost infinatly. Right now, he could tell his normal power had been multiplied by 3x and this was enough. X doesnt waste the chance and lets loose a huge wave of charged plasma. Its the size of a greyhound bus and just about as long. The side vents on Xs blaster burst with recoil energy. It keeps the massive blast from pushing back directly on Xs body but the force of air pushed forward still causes Xs body to blow back. He only has to take one firm step back to re anchor himself for the rest of the duration of the shot. The shot finishes discharging and his arm flys up just a little.

THe normal armor takes the full on force squarely on its back. It first drives the body of the normal armor right into the chest of the killer armor. The reploids heads collide with each other and splinter into pieces of metal and fiber-optics. After the blast forces the impact it presses forward without any delay and the normal armor explodes with all four limbs going in respective directions. The killer armor also has its chest area blown open and its body taken back a good 30 yards from the impact. The reploid operating it, dead from the head collision.

Wily was leaning against the outside wall of the facility , in a shaded spot at the corner next to an industrial unit used for ventilation and air conditioning. Hes got his cool wrap around sunglasses on, smiling pretty big. Some beads of sweat shine in the reflection of the sun off his bald spot in the middle of his head.

X - Are you hurt? I should see if others are around... Wait here!

X runs off around the corner out of site. Wily starts to laugh a little to himself. He didnt wait for me to answer. he he . He assessed my condition faster than the words could come out of his mouth. IT seemed like he had his answer before he spoke. That was a very , Thomas like trait just then. Asking things out of courtesy when he already knew the answer was something Wily used to hate about Thomas. Its something now , that makes him feel warm and nostalgic. How many years I spent hating you old friend...he says out loud. Your son fights for my safety as we speak.

In the distance several explosions and sounds of blaster fire are heard. Wily isnt worried. He has no doubt at all that X will come walking around that corner saying, we are safe now.

Suddenly X lands right in front of Wily. It kicks up a plume of dust and Wily starts to cough. Uh uh uh . X ! cough cough..Careful where you land.

X - Sorry Doctor. We are safe now. I came from the roof after blasting a few dragonfly bots that had locked on to you. I had to shoot them after jumping and couldnt adjust my landing any further away from you than I did.

Wily- nods- Well... now that the area is clear, lets go X.

Wily presses a button on his watch and with almost ridiculous speed a whirling sounding saucer barrels in from straight above and hovers just above the ground. The upper half of the saucer is rotating see thru glass that spins clockwise. The lower half of the saucer spins counter clockwise. Anti gravity units and gyro stabilizers can be seen by X. He can slow down the information he sees with his optics for a forced slow motion effect for analyzing high speed objects in real time. The way this is accomplished is by overclocking his perception and releasing the limiters on his bus thru pathways for more power. It runs a risk of overheating his pupils but only after sustained slow motion for 10 seconds or more. Most instances only require a tenth of a second to a full second. In this case only a second was needed to see what wilys machine looked like.

X- Anti gravity units and gyro stabilizers. Simple but effective.

Wily - Thats right, X you have all of Dr lights scientific research and progress in you dont you. You could be the next Dr Light if you wanted.

X - No, Doctor. I couldnt. I may be able to do just what you say, but for some reason, I dont think I should be building anything. I just feel like , thats not who I am. I dont understand half as much as I need to to be bringing in life to this world. No..I .. I dont know what my purpose is here. For now, ill stay with you and find out more about this world.

Wily is taken back by the display of self awareness and wisdom the young man just showed. This level of maturity or rather, an awareness of lack of maturity goes beyond either Light ,nor myself! X...again..you move me with your display of humanity. Wily thinks to himself. I wish I had heard Light say these words back when I wished he would stop leading robotics and building creatures made to suffer. I see now through X again, that something in suffering is necessary to grow. X was hurt by the little girl, crushed like Rock was once, but he bounced back with even stronger determination. Its like, the more he gets hurt, the stronger he gets. The more he falls into a dark state, the stronger his light when he emerges from its shadow... Its still early, but...your son shows a lot of promise Thomas.

Wily - Well, son. Get in.

Wily presses another button and the upper half of the saucer stops spinning and the glass rises up without strings, levers or anything else.

X - Where are we going?

X jumps up leaving a dust plume from the dry sandy ground. He lands right in the middle chair. A bit W on the back of the seat behind his head. Wily presses yet another button on his watch and suddenly X and the chair hes sitting in drops down in a platform below the saucer.

Wily - Your in my seat.

X stands up and stands to one side and bows slightly as Wily walks up and plops down in the chair. X stands as the platform rises back up into the saucer.

X- why did you tell me to get in and then raise the glass if you just could lower the platform for me?

Wily - Pranks are part of being human X...hehe

X - so ...where are we going?

Wily presses a button and then his chair slides itself over via a track in the floor. Another chair with a different emblem slides up and hits X softly in the back. X falls down into the chair.

Wily - take us to coordinates 22.3193 degrees North by 114.1694 degrees East..  
Im going to take a quick nap...im old. Wake me when we arrive. Shouldn't take more than 3 hours. I could get us there in 5 mins but I need some rest and its nowhere safer right now than up here.

Wily closes his eyes and slumps down in the chair. A recliner section comes out fron underneath and the chair starts to recline. The see thru glass auto shades to allow only 10% of all light through. A fake oscillating fan noise comes through the speakers.

X goes to ask Wily about the controls but as he looks over, Wily is already fast asleep. X touches the console with his right hand and his copy ability scans the console circuitry and its control program. He learns its designed to be piloted straight from a reploid or older numbers robots by connecting to a wireless interface. The scanning functions X uses in his eyes emit sonic, radar,broadband and EM waves together for deep scanning. Wily wrote a new protocol for using these waves for wireless communications with his own saucer. X also copies logs from this ships activitys since it was built. X stores that data for review later. He sits back into his chair and lets his mind see through the eyes of the ships cameras and he sets his course... those coordinates... i know this city...its...

Where is the destination? Look up the coordinates or wait till next chapter to find out!


	7. Chapter 7 : Personal Log

Two hours pass...

X has been fumbling around with all sorts of things inside this little ship to keep himself from being restless. He connects himself to the ship and starts to go through the logs and gets a huge data dump into his consciousness. His vision fades out into a scene that he is viewing from above, as if in a dream. He sees Wily in the past from the camera lens, proud and tall. He wears a grey lab coat with a red undershirt. On the front of the shirt is a circle with a diagonal stripe through the center. Inside that circle stands a stick figure representing humans. The wind blows his trademark hairstyle only slightly. A blue robot about 5 feet 5 inches tall stands behind him with a very angry look. His blaster is glowing and aimed at the back of Wilys head. X , if he could see his virtual mouth, would be hanging open in wonder as he curiously absorbs the scene as it plays out...

Dr. Wily - pffftt ha ha ha hee he. Come now ...again with this? We both know what you represent and that YOU...CANT...DO...ITTTT. he he he hahahaha! I dont even need to turn around do I? Because even if you see my eyes you wont fire. Even if I beg you too. You wont... You say you can...but I just...he he he he hahaha dont see it ! ahahahaha!

Rockman - I ... I hate you so much...

Dr. Wily turns around quickly and jumps right into Rockmans face. He grabs his blaster arm by the elbow and pushes the blue bombers blaster against his temple. The charging effect is singeing Wilys mustache and the skin around his temple is turning red. Wily, inches from Rockmans face, stares right into his eyes with conviction.

Dr. Wily - Then DO IT! Do it you weakling! You pacifist fool! End it for all of us!

Rockman - ... he lowers his charge level and turns his gaze away from Wilys. He shrinks into himself and turns to walk away.

Dr. Wily - Then shut the hell up! Im tired of hearing you cry. If I wanted a world full of that, id let the humans live... goodbye...boy.

Wily enters the ship...and the transmission feed cuts out to static...

X regains his normal vision to see Wily standing over him with his blanket around his ankles. He looks concerned.

Dr. Wily - what did you see, X?

X - Just you and some blue robot arguing. It looked pretty serious. Who was that?

Dr. Wily - forget about it, it was a long time ago. He was different and so was I.

Wily tampers with some controls and the consoles across the ship turn off and blink with a red light.

Dr. Wily - there will be no more of that im afraid. Thats my personal logs. X...

X - I ... i didnt know it was wrong... im sorry.

Dr. Wily - Well, sooner or later you would have found out...

X - Found out what?

Dr. Wily - That blue robot that was so angry with me, was ...or used to be...You.

X - !

Dr. Wily - Your name is X. Your past lifes name was Rock. X, you volunteered to be converted by Thomas and I, into this new life form you are now. Yes , X. I am your father as well as Dr. Light. It took both of us together to make the breakthroughs necessary to remodel you. Light did not want to extend his life unnaturally and I could not public ally be tied to one of Lights robots given my past. I could not bear to die without seeing our dream come true, nor did I feel it was wise to leave you in the hands of random humans. I extended myself to help guide you X. It was also a promise I made to your original self, Rock. Not to let you suffer a fate as tragic as his again. We deleted your memorys, and allowed you to keep all your combat data. We selected which parts of the human library of knowledge from the net to keep and threw away some information that we felt would only complicate you more than it was worth.

Dr. Wily - We are only about 20 mins now away from Neo Tokyo. There is an old Sagesu base through a passageway in the underground subway tunnels under main street. He liked to stay right in the middle , right under their noses. Sagesu was building a huge fusion bomb right under main street and planned to disintegrate all of neo tokyo in a huge show of force. He had planned to submit all the other major citys of the world one at a time to his will or threaten their fate the same as Neo Tokyos. I intend to take over the massive resources of that base.

X - My data shows this to be Hong Kong.

Dr. Wily - Yes we did not update your network stream to include protocols that are used in the future for digital broadcasting. .Hong Kong was given to Japan and the original Tokyo was given to China in a peace treaty meant to bury the hatchet between the two countrys forever. Thomas was concerned about controlling the scenarios and emotions you were subjected too while inside his 30 year capsule. The world was changing too fast X. In truth, youve probably had your spirit broken a hundred times by your own father inside that capsules virtual world, just to make sure you cannot be broken now. He was generous to wipe your memory but keep its lessons coded into your psyche. I cant even begin to tell you how he did that X...

\- Thomas was in full charge of every aspect of your mind and soul. He relied heavily on me to solve the power challenges and to perfect your body with all the enhancements you enjoy today. It took Thomas nearly every waking hour of his life , all the way up to his peaceful death at home in his bed, to build whatever it is that we call your mind. I know that man poured every last ounce of his own life force into you X. He worked like a man possessed. Like, I used too when I was mad;until he died from exhaustion.

Dr. Wily - We are entering the checkpoint X...hide yourself. Neo Tokyo wont allow unregistered combat reploids into the city...but I have a plan...now do as i say...leave the past for later...

X looks around and down at his feet to pull up a metal grate. Under the grate is a hidden stashing area that leads to an even smaller version of this saucer. A tiny saucer X can barely squeeze in. Its designed to shoot out the bottom. X climbs down through the grate hole and puts the grate back down.

Dr. Wily - Get in the saucer X. They cant scan through its hull nor this one...but they will tell me to open up the glass to scan inside. As long as your inside that escape pod, you wont be detected. Hurry..

X turns away and climbs down the small tunnel into the hatch of the little saucer below and closes it behind him. X sits in the saucer seat and looks out the glass at nothing but a wall. The saucer comes to a stop and a hover ship rises from the ground to float up even with Wilys saucer ...

Wily prepares himself for his performance...


	8. Chapter 8 : Personal Log Final Entry

Chapter 8

X sits in the tiny saucer, he cant quite hear what Wily is saying to the reploid guard that pilots the hovercraft, but X can hear the anti gravity whirls of both vehicles clearly. They hum in sequence, in a phasing reverberation that vibrates the hulls of both and feels pleasant. Xs processors already determine that the frequency will overlap every 44.212 seconds. He starts to anticipate the vibrating metal and he noticed his excitement growing as the moment of sync gets closer. It reaches the harmonic point and the ships vibrate again, X feels a soothing ,comforting, almost sleep inducing wave pass through his body.

Then, as if he was aware he was being distracted, snapped back to focus. X was thinking about that footage of Wily and this Rock robot. X wasn't that surprised really that he used to be another robot. He didn't feel any loss of self, he never felt any hole inside that needed filling. This was the way things were and for whatever end it brings, good or bad, this is his world now. Something did bother him though.

I wonder if the computer in this little saucer will be enough.

No, Wily did say its his personal logs. I shouldn't. But , its already in my head and I suppose I can delete it. Ill still need to hook up to this computer to do it.

X links himself with the saucers computer. Wily has already convinced the robot guard that he is a reploid tech here to help with a massive order from the city of Neo Tokyo. All the waste disposal bots and support vehicles are due for a moving parts overhaul. Wily had forged contract papers and a work permit. X could tell the ship was moving again. He was just gonna delete this data real quick...

X starts to scan the file names and dates from the data logs in his memory. He deletes one after another, after another, until the very last entry log dated,Jan 1st, 205X. X hesitates, but then activates the memory file.

Straight away Xs perspective shifts to a camera lens on the outside of Wilys saucer. Its landed in a wooded area with a country style log cabin at the north end of the wood line. He can see Wily clearly,on his back , on the ground. The same blue robot is standing over him. The right foot of the blue bot is on top of Wilys left arm, at the bicep. The left foot of the blue bot is standing on Wilys chest. Wily is crying out in pain and you see the face of blue bot light up with a bright smile. He leans forward and presses down his weight. Wily screams out, as loud as he can ,for about 3 tenths of a second before he passes out. Just a shriek that cut out as quick as flicking a switch. The pain too great for his mind to process. The blue bot takes a few steps back and then starts to take random shots at Wilys body. The bursts of plasma are as small as grains of rice but the bot is shooting them at such a high speed that the naked eye cannot see it. Small holes randomly give way to small pools of blood, now to starting to cover the front of Wilys chest...From out of the sky comes a red flying object. It has the head of a dog in front and its rear legs are boosters. It slams into the blue bot throwing him off of Wily. The blue bot rolls quickly into a recovery and takes aim at the red aerial attacker. A massive energy blast erupts from behind the blue bot. A Red bot with a scarf and dark glasses has blindsided the would be attacker. A 10 meter by 10 meter blast explodes with a shocking force. The ground beneath this behemoth wave fractures and then melts and small debris and sand are forced out of their resting places at high speeds. A pebble flys right off into the camera from Xs perspective. The last millisecond before the end of the recording,X could see the massive blast;exploding the blue bot into pieces...

Dr. Wily - Out...

Dr. Wily commands the hatch to open. A little door pops open in front. X comes crawling out.

Dr. Wily - what took you so long? Couldn't you tell we were moving? We have already landed. Come outside and look at the city...

X doesn't answer but looks eager and follows Wily out of the inner hold and out of the ships exit. The lights of Neo Tokyo , snare Xs attention...

X - This place. Its, its beautiful...

Dr. Wily - beauty is in the eye young man. Come..im afraid our view for the next while wont be as pleasant as all this.

Wily stands over a manhole cover. The saucer stands landed in the yard of an abandoned prison. The lights of Neo Tokyo are so bright, they reach all the way out to the defunct industrial yard is lit as if by full moon. Green vines and honey-suckle wrap all through the chain link fence surrounding the parking flashes of colors reflect on the grass that have grown wild through the yard. The neon signs of the highest permitted posts shine so bright and hot, that moths getting even within 3 feet can catch fire. Such signs were also considered great lighthouses for bad smog days to keep vehicle to building collisions to within a respectable ten a year.

The prison looks run down. X looks at wily expecting some kind of instruction.

Dr. Wily - down here im afraid...

X descends with Wily below.

Down the ladder but as X closes the manhole ,which surprisingly wasn't heavy ,a force seems to pull the manhole cover down and two emitter arrays form a force field below the cover. X reaches up like a curious child to touch the force field with his index finger. Unlike a human however, he judges the distance to within a thousandth of an inch. He only allows a small surface of molecules to interact with the field to gauge its power. He determines the emitters increase power to the field the further he pushes his finger. He only need sacrifice an extra thousandth for the verification. X looks at his finger. It hurt a little.X's mind immediately comes up with the conclusion he could force the emitters to overheat by forcing a hard substance like diamond into the field to break it. The split second urge was deemed irrational and X continues down the ladder into a typical stone sewer passageway.

At least, typical in the layout only. The lighting is kept very dim but X can see that there isnt a piece of dust let alone filth down here. A puzzling expression comes over Xs face. Hes never been in a sewer. How does he know its supposed to be filthy from human waste? He ignores it and looks to catch up to Wily. He can smell the old mans scent and dusty lab coat and follows it down a straight corridor. The air is clean. The air. I am a robot do I even respirate? The answer almost comes to him as if hes known his own body forever and just had a silly moment of forgetfulness at something so obvious. He constantly is testing conditions with all his senses, not just seeing and hearing. Replicating the process of breathing provides a good way to get real time environmental data. Each breath refreshes the current status of the area directly around him. Xs focuses a moment on heightening his senses. He breaths in very slow through his nose and lets his eyes goes out of focus. He stands very still. Wilys steps can be heard now as if they were made by a gorilla standing next to him. He smells Wilys breath from the trail still hanging in the air. X jogs to catch up to Wily. He closes in and the bland trail of granite stone gives way to a highly advanced hatch. Octagon shaped. Single square shaped glass window to look through.

The door is silver in color and before X could really get a good look it opens up automatically at such a speed that it almost seemed the door disappeared rather than moved into its recesses. It made no noise either. Then a pop.

X is momentarily startled.

Wily is standing on the other side of the hatch. Grinning.

Wily - Like that? I haven't seen anyone jump from that hatch in years. That still, is quite amusing. Its a small sonic boom from the speed of the hatch opening. Its a hyper magnetic pull device that makes clever use of mono-pole magnets. Yes. Yes I know! Right? Mono-poles would push each other, oh but thats the...well nevermind. Come come...

X walks through the opening and the hatch shuts behind him. The speed of its closing is a ridiculous snail crawl.

Wily - Safety first after all...

Wily looks at X with the smirk of a confident comic artist , sure of a laugh to come.

X doesnt get it of course.

Wily - Yeah well , ive never cared much about safety X,that was the joke.

X gets a flash of memory back to the shriek of the same man in front of him, passing out in agony.

Wily - Come lay down here X...

Wily has his hands over a lab table as if hes presenting an item to bid for a public auction.

Wily - If you will be so kind ?

Wily is bowing with his arm to the side as if leading the way.


	9. Chapter 9 : Leap Of Faith

Chapter 9 - Leap of faith

X - what are you going to do ?

Wily - A fair question of course. X, i want to restrain you. Talk to you. Ask you a few things, and then, depending, I may destroy you or I may not. Dont worry about telling the truth or me assuming anything about you. All that is pointless in this room. The real question before we go any further, is, how much do you really trust me at this moment?

X looks down and squints his eyes in a display of discomfort, intense effort, and thought. He reaches his decision.

X - I trust you Dr.

X walks over to the table and lays down. Metal wire restraints clasp around the wrists, knee joints, and neck. The wires are as thin as human hair and are many intertwined nanotubes flexing and swirling with an intelligent pattern of movement . The wires creeped and moved along like living vines with a purpose.

Wily - Now that you are secure X...

Wily pauses and turns his back. X sees wilys hand slope over his bald head. Wily scratches a spot and then turns back around to face Xs gaze.

Wily - Simply put, my boy, there are clones of you around...

X - ! Clones? Of a robot?

Wily - Yes im afraid so.. And you may be one of those clones..

X gazes over to the cement wall. His expression shows something similar to a human being told they have a potential life threatening form of cancer. He shakes his head no ,in the way we would, to show that our luck is cursed and this is somewhat expected bullshit. Xs first memory was that girl dying. Even when he remembers it he notices how great he is at blocking the images that traumatized him the most. The ones where he lost control and blew away every last cell of that girls body...

X - Im probably a clone. Just destroy me. I knew something was wrong with me...

Wilys pulls at some of the spiky hair that juts from the left side of his head. Years of noticing patterns, numbers and other "mathematical coincidences" , lead his instincts to tell him that that response may be a bigger clue.

Wily - X, whats the first thing you remember? Waking up in that rubble pile before your battle with the maverick?

X - Yes. The little girl actually...

X sheds a tear down the right side of his face. The tear sheds for a few reasons now, and not just the memory of the girl. X is scared. X is also ashamed and feeling broken and unwanted, or maybe , just not needed in the world anymore. Or perhaps feeling responsible in some way for the world. He could die for its sins. That would be ok.

Wily - X , I told you not to access my personal logs and you did anyway. The second time was really what made me question you. After I told you, and you then accessed the one file that had the destruction of my shape shifting Darkman at the blaster of Blues. I know of a few dark minds still alive in this world that may use information like this. So here we are. Now I have to be 100 percent sure X.

X - I understand.

Wily - X, to be honest , this isnt good for you. The first person to create a clone of X was the real X. Gone Maverick. The clones of X are spread out through the left over citys of the world as mayors and directors. Each clone took on his own name. ANd for some reason, all of Xs clones are this highly evolved form of maverick. None of them are any kind of wild, crazed robots that cant control themselves. The Sigma virus X has fought for so long and finally defeated, had left behind the smallest fragment of a computer worm designed to infiltrate Xs system through its copy analyzer in his buster arm. X , like Rock before him, needs to touch the component with his left buster hand to fully copy its internal structure. Many times had X touched Sigmas body during the final battle. Sigma forced Xs copy analyzer to analyze the Sigma Virus inside his body, and replicate it inside his own buster. The worm was successful for a few reasons. Sigmas own body is based on X. In fact, as you may know or not know, all modern robots are based on you X. Your most advanced component is that program Light wrote that gives you a real soul from nature. This allows you to evolve in a way even the clones cant do.

Wily - The original X , thankfully had his true power limited while infected with the sigma virus. But he makes up for that with ruthless calculations, and giant overwhelming numbers.

Wily - X, are you sure...you dont remember anything before the little girl?

X searches every corner of his memory banks to look for anything he doesnt immediately recognize. He encounters a firewall inside his own pathway.

X - I found something Dr. There are files that were kept hidden from my perception by a very advanced firewall. If I hadnt put all my processing attention toward deep memory search, id have never found the firewall. Its so well hidden I cant believe I found it, actually.

Wily - I bet thats not a coincidence.

Wily walks over to a table holding some electronic devices on top. Wily pushes around the bolts, nuts, wrenches, soldering irons, and all the other various bits until he finds what he is looking for. A square red white and black controller. A single knob that turns left and right is in the middle.

Wily - Ahh. This is it. X this is something I came up with for robot dream sequences. Currently, even though robots are based on you now, Cain, couldnt copy your core program. Neither could I. Its that core program that lets you do things like dream and evolve and change your own core. This device basically forces streams of data through all your inputs while your real time perception or internal clock, is blocked off. It basically makes a robot blind, deaf, and void of all real time inputs. I will admit, I didnt invent this for the peaceful robot dreams they provide today. Its first function was to paralyze any robot body and it does that. Now though I push streams of data through the inputs that are frozen by bypass sequencing ... You know what? I bet this might do the trick..

Wily walks up to X and puts the end of what looks like a headphone jack up to Xs red forehead crystal. He turns the dial and X goes lifeless...

X wakes up inside a realm of his own imagination. Its the memory path he was on before but this time his conscious mind is involved in the transit. Before, X just thought ,and like humans, his brain would arrive at the destination. For a robot to have a memory he cannot access would feel like to humans, amnesia. Even something as small as the color of a persons shirt being forgotten would feel to a robot as if something is terribly wrong. But what was a subconscious thought to access memorys is now a 3d experience. He can tell which roads he needs to take. First, its this single lane backwoods country road that winds sharply left and then right, snaking down a mountain side. Oak trees, pine trees, maple trees and cedar trees makeup the roadside scenery. X jogs at a nice 40 mph snaking around the corners , sometimes sliding , as if on skates. He criss crosses one leg over the other; turning the way you would see speed skaters taking a turn on 4 wheeled roller skates.

X reaches down to the pavement with his free hand to barely touch the road, making small sparks. Xs feet have a unique ability to both grip and not grip as he feels he needs. While taking turns, he lowers the coefficient of friction by changing the electric current that runs through the nano-rubber soles of the bottom of Xs feet. The current makes the rubber a harder compound, which can slide easier. And with no current at all , the rubber gets as sticky as glue. The rubber becomes soft. Since nano tubes are used in the rubber, It can squeeze its rubber molecules into microscopic pores and gaps in every the rubber starts to sheer, the current hardens it before it pulls itself off. In this way, the rubber keeps itself from ever wearing out. X could slide down a polished flat diamond wall at about a tenth of an inch per second with no current applied. Some current is always needed or X would have to overcome enormous grip to just walk.

X comes up on the bottom of the mountain pass. Running and then skating around corners has given X a smile for the last 3 minutes 33 seconds. X wants to do something like this again sometime. A sign comes up showing X that his mind is reminding him to take this next left turn coming up.

X comes up to a steep hill. He stops his skate/slide in favor of running with some grip. He sprints up the hill and gets to the crest. He stops at the top and looks down at the road. Its now covered in snow and forks off to the left. In the distance X can see more mountains. This time the peaks cant be seen. A blizzard seems to be blowing hard and it creates a chilly fog that covers most of the peaks.

X turns his gaze down and runs a few meters before switching to skate/slide. He balances himself as his bodys weight increases the speed of his descent. Bits of snow start to hit him in the face and his eyes naturally squint here and there when a piece gets close to his eye. As he gets closer to the bottom it forks off and then suddenly hes skating around 70 mph in a full white out. He puts his full brakes on. The rubber in his feet grab to the snow but the snow just gets pulled along and now X rides with shoes made of snow bottoms.

X points his blaster at the ground a few feet in front of him and shoots a series of short plasma bursts , melting the snow. X takes about five seconds to see just how much power and just how much grip he needs to sustain a controllable slide along the road while melting the snow. He snakes around a sharp sweeping left corner, then a hairpin right. As soon as X clears the right corner he smacks head on into a barricade. A barricade he had no chance of seeing in the white out and was positioned above the ground suspended by cables so his plasma wave didnt light it up until it was too late. X wondered why he hadnt thought of using his radar functions and sonar functions to map out the path ahead. He feels a bit , foggy himself. He gets closer to the barricade to read the words.

!GADNRE! !GADNRE! !SERET NI ORPESSG!

X hears a sound like a jet flying. Suddenly he gets hammered by a giant blue blast.

X notices that it didnt hurt but it sent him flying a good 40 feet.

X picks himself up , dusting off the snow.

X - Whos there!

A red robotic dog calmly walks out of the white fog. His head is down at the ground smelling things as he walks forward. Every once in a few seconds the dogs eyes will try to meet with Xs. Every time they do the dog pushes he gaze aside to the rocks and snow. His tongue is hanging out and he pants and walks with no alarm.

Behind the red dog, after a few yards, appears the blue robot X has seen in Wilys videos. He walks with a valiant stride. The look on Rocks face is a serious one. He does not have his blaster armed. Both of his hands appear normal. X studys every aspect of Rock with all his high powered perceptions. Nothing to him suggests Rock is hostile at this moment.

X - Rock...and whos this?

The red dog perks up his ears as if someone was shaking a bag of dog food. He gallops over to X with his mouth open and his tongue hanging out. His little stubby red tail wags back and forth and he showed no signs of slowing down. X opens his arms expecting the dog to jump up at him.

Rock - RUSH!

Rush scoots his front paws into the road and X can hear some scuffing sounds being made. Sounds that are similar to his ear to that of his own rubber feet when he changes direction quickly. Rush stops but looks up to X. Waiting for a command.

X smiles down at Rush and then kneels down.

Rush moves his head left and right, huffing and puffing, showing signs of wanting to play. He steps in and licks Xs face, right on his bottom lip and up the side of his face.

X laughs and then puts his hand on Rushs head. The red dog then pushes his front paws down on X and pushes him down to his back and then dive bombs him with ridiculous amounts of licking to his face. X starts laughing and laughing and it only fuels the dogs affections more.

X lets it go on for about 10 seconds when..

X - ok ok ! good boy ! ha ha ha good boy!

X stands up and Rush walks over and sits his rear end down next to his new friend.

Rock - X. You know who I am.

X - Yes.

Rock - You and I are connected in a way no one can ever sever. X, Dr Light made me into you but you are not me. Nothing about you is made from me. Your body may be machine like mine. Your parts may be rooted in base designs from me, but humans all have bones. Dont they? Are their bones not made partially from the dna of their parents? The truth is X, I was always my own being. Dr. Light had made us all perfect artificial souls back 100 years ago. He was able to take my consciousness and my essence and write an artificial program to simulate my old body in digital form. The separate parts joined and now I am inside you as a protection program. Im here to do two things. Guide you as a friend and counselor. And protect this data behind me. What lies behind me X is your core program.

There is a factory reset option Dr. Light has given you and you apparently have used it. The factory reset has not completed though. Such a reset takes days. Youve been running on what automakers used to call limp mode. Its basically a preset program ran on a backup loop in case a major system fails. Only base functions and power levels are allowed. X, im sorry but you cannot go past this point. Until the factory reset is complete I cannot allow you into this data.

X - My entire past may be locked up in that data! If the reset is completed, ill lose all of it!

Rock walks up slowly to X and places his hand on his shoulder. He looks into Xs eyes with compassion.

Rock - I have all of that data in me X. I can give it to you at any time. However...

Rock turns his back then turns his head to the side...not wanting to speak face to face.

Rock - It was you that commanded me to never give it to you. You only wanted to save it in the first place for all the data it holds on the Sigma Virus and how you overcame it . The exact isolation procedure you and I had to do together in order to isolate the virus inside your own system was massive. You were infected for a long time X. But you and I together in here, in the protected core, were able to finally solve the equation. We, have found a cure for the Sigma Virus, and the Maverick Virus, and in doing so, created the cure for all robots for all mental breakdowns. Im afraid however, that by your command, that data stays locked within me forever. We are cured. The sigma virus is no more and mavericks are just another term for suffering robot. We can now treat mavericks with programs, firewalls, and even social therapy. The only way the data can be extracted from me is if the worlds fate depended on it. That was the order you gave.

X - I understand. Then it was purging and isolating the virus that made me reset.

Rock looks around at the ground again. Another grim look.

Rock - well...no.

X - so you can hint but Im guessing you cant tell me the whole story.

Rock - thats right. Im allowed to tell you but only so much. Besides. Trust me X. Please. You dont want to know. Its defiantly better that you dont remember the things youve done as a maverick. The issue now is to allow this reset to complete. You and I can still hang out here and talk.

Rock - Father always knew one day you may need to reset again. I myself, was reset once. Sometimes X, we just take on too much pain from the suffering of others. Slowly, we get chiseled down into less and less virtuous versions of ourselves. Going maverick X, was simply all of our advanced minds, breaking under the stress of accepting the reality of our world. Dr. Light thought he could wait it out by putting you into a capsule but also knew the chance humanity would never really stop fighting. So he built me for you and left you something, to ease the pain of losing a past should you feel yourself broken by the world.

Rock - wake up now. and wait about...oh...39 minutes.

X wakes up on the table to find Wily asleep in a chair next to him. Wilys head is cocked to the side and drool is oozing out of his open mouth as he breathes. His ultra tablet lays on the floor with an analytics program running a monitor on Xs systems. The screen changes and a new monitor pops up on the screen. The colors from the tablet changed from red to green and Xs wire restraints release him from the table.

X leans over and stands up. He quietly walks over to the other empty chair against the wall next to the door and sits down. X then thinks that Wily should be woken up to sleep in a more comfortable place. A scan of his head with his radar shows his brain waves are in a state of deep rem sleep. X creeps over to Wily and very very slowly, with the precision only a robot could achieve, picks up WIly and sets him on the table without waking him...

39 minutes go by...

X sits in the chair with his eyes closed for the entire 39 minutes. Reflecting on Rock, Rush, the reset, what he feels he should do about the clone Xs running the world, Wily, a list of questions for him for later, and other things.

X opens his eyes to a sound. Something is scratching at the hatch outside the hallway. Scratch scratch scratch... scratch scratch scratch...

X gets up and walks out to the hall. Scratch scratch scratch...

X gets to door and doesnt open it. But puts his ear up to the door.

X - whos there.

WOOOF! WOOF! X hears a familiar bark...and opens the door

Rush pounces X to the ground and starts licking his face ridiculously.

X can do nothing but laugh and laugh ...

Wily emerges from the small lab room , yawning and rubbing his eyes...

Wily - The dog...wonderful..

Wily gives out a long sigh .

Wily knows exactly why the dog is here. He looks down at X, laughing as Rush licks him seemingly without end.

Wily cracks a grin...

A memory of his old friend creeps into his heart.


	10. Chapter 10: Old Friends, New Family

Chapter 10 - Old Friends, New Family

Wily has a few more memory flashbacks of his own daughter being licked by the robot cat Haru. He feels his eyes start to well up. Thomas and the love he taught me with his sacrifice. I was able to give it to my daughter and Haru because of you. I had just started to be cured from my illness by Lights treatments. I took everything I had in me. All my love, all my pain, I took the dna of Victoria , the remains of Forte, the dark energy from space, and Blues volunteered to be the new base and I created Zero. I had completed a purification process for making zeros dark energy source neutral. But he was awakened far too soon during the factorys building phase of his body. Many different sizes, lengths and attributes were tested before settling on a final design. I left it all up to his own core program. Zero was purging his on dark energy from within the safety of the computer system when someone or something happened to force a transfer of zero into his body while it was still full of dark energy. Wily was forced to flee .Zero is Wilys son in most respects to the definition. A son who has never met his father. A father who has never allowed himself to meet his own son and feels the guilt of Blues's fate and his failure as a father to build Blues a fully functional body for a second time. Wily is a very strong believer in free choice and never was in support of the robotic laws programmed into the first generation of self aware robots Light made. Light wasnt in favor of it either, stating that his artificial souls would replicate a true neutral starting point for development. Every bot as innocent as a baby. Shaped by the reality around them and certain unique traits they are born with to give them a stronger sense of individuality among themselves. Aiding identity, expression and freedom. The way Wily envisioned the world of robots was perhaps the most compassionate one. Giving Blues a massive blaster capable of even destroying his own body if charged too far, wasnt done out of a lack of concern for Blues safety over power. It was done to give Blues the power to choose anything. Freedom by fighting. Freedom by dying. Freedom by pacifism. The energy core that powered Blues energy was defected and beyond repair and would slowly seep out its power until Blues would shut down. Sadly as Wily started to fall victim to his mental disease, all of his ideals were warped into an apocalyptic view of how humans should just all be slaves to robots because its sweet ironic justice. And Wily never got around to fixing Blues and when he was cured, asked Blues to let him fix his responded, there was nothing worth fixing. Wilys attention gets brought back to the present as the facility underground shakes.

Rush stops licking X and X also stands up alert. Again something pounds down and the facility shakes again even more violently.

X - Dr! I have to go up! The facility will cave in on you!

Wily looks at the dog with a sharp look of judgement.

Wily - Someone followed you here! Damn it LIGHT! that bleeding heart of yours again! getting ME in trouble. AAaAhhhhh damn!

Wily storms off down the hallway, past the observation lab where X was held. Heading toward a set of double doors that leads to who knows what in the back. X notices that Wily didnt tell him not to go up.

X opens the hatch and darts up. He jumps up way way way up past the manhole entrance until he has a good birds eye view of the surrounding area.

Two helicopters with crane units are carrying killer armors. Two generic reploid units are piloting them while being suspended in the air , waiting to be dropped.

There is another robot X can spot standing on the landing rail of the helicopter.

Hes got long blonde hair and is aiming his buster at the object that just jumped from out of the hole.

Zero can tell right away who it is.

Zero - SHIT! its an X! Retreat! Retreat! While I take him on! GO GO !

Zero jumps down from the helicopter rails at over 400 feet. As he falls a blast of energy pushes out from his feet and he darts to the side and fires a blast from his buster at X.

X has plenty of time to see it coming but hes also in the air and doesnt think he can dash in the air like he just saw this blonde bot do. Instead the only option is to fire his own blast at the one coming at him. Preferably something bigger than his to avoid damage himself.

X charges up his blaster, he gets a warning message about 60% of full power being available and he charges it to that much. Just over half power? I sure hope this is enough.

X releases the charge. The blast bellows out with a hallowing boom. The windows in the nearby run down industrial buildings all shatter, the sound is deafening. The heat from the blast melts a nearby fire escape guard rail. It glows red in the tenth of a second it took for the blast to fly by. It smashes through the proton blast that was coming at it, showing its own size to be 10 times larger by comparison and twice as bright. It has Zero dead to rights. Zero crosses his arms in front of his head to brace for what he knows will be an explosion he wont survive. He allows himself an internal question as if his last words would be unspoken. Where the hell did this power come from? X and his clones are not this powerful at all.

Zero closes his eyes and then Rush flys in to grab Zero out of the way of the blast.

Zero uses the save to take aim against X but Rush throws him into the side of a building before he could. Zero bounces off the concrete wall and falls down, the dog comes back in for another save but zero air dashes out of they way. He takes aim against the dog but hesitates. Something doesnt feel right to Zero. The dog saved him? Then saved X? Then tried to attack me ? Or save me again?

Zero lands...and waits. The dog flys off toward X and meets him and lands next to him with his tail wagging.

X pets the head of Rush.

X - You saved him Rush. Is he a good guy?

Rush barks happily and rounds around in a circle.

X - I see. Well then I suppose we should go greet the good guy instead of blasting him. You sure hes not gonna trick us?

Rush springs up and down a little and runs another circle.

X - Ok then.

X and Rush walk toward Zero who is also walking toward them. Zeros buster is pointed at them still as he walks. X does not raise his buster to Zero in return.

Zero looks more and more puzzled the closer he gets to X. Zero even starts to feel something. Something emotional. Its almost like he can recognize a very old very dearly missed friend for the first time in years.

Zero lowers his buster and as he stands now in 20 feet from X, he can see the smile on his friends face.

Zero feels his eyes swell with tears but forces it away immediately. No one noticed.

Zero - X. Is it really you? My old friend?

X - No. Im afraid I do not know you. But its nice to meet you. Apparently your a good guy.

X gives out his hand to shake.

Zeros face turns to a frown.

Zero - if you dont know me, your an X clone.

Zero raises up his buster and starts to charge it.

Rush starts to growl and jumps in front of X.

Zero looks at Rush and then X. X still isnt putting up his buster.

X gives a look of concern and confusion.

X - No , i know about the clones though. Dr. Wily told me. I am the original X. That much is sure.

Zero - Then why dont you remember me? WE have fought side by side for years! Decades!

X - Factory reset.

Zero grows silent. Then walks a few feet away with his head down. His head turns...

Zero - Factory reset...

Zero knows about it. He knows all too well about it. His creator had built him a protection program too along with a cat program that protected his core from the evil energy controlling his body. These new personas in Zeros head have in truth, been keeping him company too for about the last 3 years. Zeros conditions for the reset happened early on but the personas were not made aware to his conscious until much later. Zero had need of a reset but not need of personas for company until he lost X to the sigma virus. Zero too had been captured once by X. Lured in by a trap where X pretended to be cured to gain Zeros trust.

X then cloned Zero and hid the clone somewhere Zero doesnt know to this day. The evil energy inside Zero was neutralized but should he be infused with more of it, he could revert back to a deadly powerful maverick. X cloned zeros body without the Z heart that contained the energy matrix. X , even as a maverick, he feared that cloning that evil energy , even after being purified neutral, may result in creating new evil energy. The risk of evil energy was too great. A demon wouldnt summon a devil. Evil never wants to share or risk power. He wanted clone zeros to command. Not clone devils that could destroy him. Maverick X had a paranoid fear of Zero and so do all the clones. To substitute for the Z heart, X cracked his own code, and copied it. He erased certain data and inserted it into the zero clone.

Zero - I. understand. And you know what ?

Zero turns to smile at X. He walks up and throws his arm around him.

Zero - This is actually even better! We can start over X. For you, anyway, no bad memories of the past only good memories of our future. You once stood as the strongest symbol of hope and justice X. Right now...I feel like that symbol of hope may just shine again on the world.

X smiles and feels a little embarrassed but happy to have this guy as a new friend. Rush puts his paws up on Zero and licks his leg and Zero pets him quickly and then pushes him down gently.

X - well...i guess you should come in. The Dr is probably worried and hopefully, hes not about to launch an attack. Best to keep the buster lowered this time. X turns with a smirk in zeros direction.

The three bots enter the manhole and the cover seals behind them, they walk down the hallway to the magnetic hatch. It opens and they walk down another hallway toward the double doors X saw Wily go through.

As soon as they get about 5 feet from the door, the double doors swing open and a fast walking Dr. Wily almost runs into the chest of Zero.

Wily backs up and falls down to his butt. He looks up at Zero as if hes seen a ghost.

Then he picks himself up and brushes himself off and plays a role.

Wily - are you the one blasting my facility, shaking it to bits?

Wilys hands are trembling slightly but Zero doesnt notice.

Zeros face is contorted with the expression that hes seen this man before but cant place it. Then the urge to place this man in his memory gets much much stronger. Suddenly he feels an emotion deep down that this man is very very important to him. This man...is the man in his nightmares.

Zero suddenly shows fear and falls down on his own butt. The nightmares Zero faced were always at the hands of this man. Inflicting pain, controlling his body, tearing out his parts while he was conscious. Terrible tortures in his dreams. All from this man!

Zero points his blaster and it starts to whirl and glow...

Zero - Who are you old man!

Wily suddenly has a very angry look..

Wily - On your feet son! If your going to kill someone, you do with on your damn feet with pride!

Zero then suddenly feels mistaken and his buster powers down. He stands up.

Zero - Your the man in my nightmares that tortures me. I may kill you. You had better talk.

X - Stop !

X stands in front of wily with his arms outstretched. The look on Xs face is serious.

Zero turns his head and creates a little space between them to ease tensions. He crosses his arms and waits for Wily to talk.

Wily - factory reset?

Zero - ...factory reset.

Wily - evil energy was controlling your mind during the time of those nightmares. Residue left over in your psyche from when the evil energy consumed you. The memory of its evil is powerful enough on its own to affect you. But rest assured son, I would never hurt you unless you gave humanity no other choice. Or you gave reploids no other choice. You and X are supposed to lead this world together, as Light and I failed to do. I did originally intend for you to kill X when I first made your prototype body Zero. I was still ..."mad" so to speak. I should have never even used evil energy for your power source but in its neutral state its only half strength and no evil attributes. So at least I was able to fix it in a long term effort through your protection programs and factory resets. Light gave me those advanced programs as a gift after his death. He actually gave me...a lot more but ...anyway...another time! Come! Zero. Now that youve forced your way into my life I cannot hide my influence from you any longer. I wanted you to grow without influence. A true free being with no laws, no guides, no role models, from which you could develop perhaps the worlds first true original identity as a sentient reploid.

Wily - X and more so ROck, were both so, goody goody that it I would question Thomas sometimes as to whether he was force programming goodness into his bots. Against the notion of free will they both agreed on. But I was wrong. X and Rock both are original good beings of free will and Light was a great man and a great friend.

Wily - Our next mission is all too clear. We must wipe out the X clones and give our world the chance to rid itself of hatred , once and for all...


	11. Chapter 11: A New World

Alert! ALert! ALert! Alert!

Dr. Wilys voice over the intercom: He he ha ha ha ha ha your all DOOOOOMED!

Zero - Hurry up! We might not make it!

X limps behind with a hole through his left foot along the ankle servos. Even with all his processors compensating for balance and inbalance,  
he struggles along at the pace of almost human.

X - Im trying! Go ahead without me..

Zero - Shut up! Hurry up!

X smiles and pushes himself down the smoking corridor toward whatever end, with Zeros back in front of him he feels safe , even with half a body, he would feel safe. Yet at the same time, something scares him about Zero. It always has but at times like this, he thinks this is probably why Zero is the way he is. No one is better at survival , no one than he. The whole world may indeed one day burn but Zero, somehow he cannot think of a world where he doesnt exist.  
Why is that? Why do I feel that way?

Zero - We are here ! Right here! Dr.! Are we ready to go?

Dr. Wily - I think so. What took you so long!? The signal on your transponders went out 7 hours and 43 minutes ago!

X makes eye contact with Dr. Wily and looks down, embarrassed.

Zero - Forget that! You have NO idea how many mavericks are bearing down on us right now! And for god sake father, how many insane robot versions of yourself did you make anyway? And how many of them did they make of themselves?

Dr. Wily - I think you already know the answer to that. There is no certainty of anything anymore in this world...And...I apologize for that.

Zero - Humanity and I can forgive you or not after we surivive. Lets go. THis transerver,where is it taking us?

Dr. Wily - I honestly cannot find that information in this machine. It was set to a destination, locked into the circuitry itself as an integrated bios function that auto executes when the unit is powered on. There IS a set of mathematical coordinates but the style its written...Ive never seen coordinates written with this many numbers before.  
No matter how I divide the numbers up looking for a pattern the patterns i find seem to be...unrealistic.

Zero - Here we will die, so...

Zero grabs Wily and X both by the arms and drags them into the transerver.

Zero - This can be on me...this and everything else can be on me...

A blinding white light ends with green fields and blue skys along a beautiful sunset backdrop. Behind them the white portal flashes out of existence.

Dr. Wily - Hmm seems like Nebraska country to me. Beautiful..

X - Nebraska. I see...

Zero - Whats Nebraska?

Wily cant help but smile at the contrast of the two bots.

X - Zero...

Zero - I know... my internal sensors are malfunctioning all over the board. Dr...something is very wrong.

X - Going into diagnostic mode.

X going into diagnostic mode is like the AI part of his brain only taking control of his body to fully focus on problems solving and systems correction without the emotion or ethical parts of his programming being engaged. Because of this, Xs body is locked into place and his servo control program shuts down.

X - current systems showing malfunction are as follows: Gravitational orientation Gyroscopic stabilizers

Geographical and topical scanning systems Biological sensors Navigational Charting

Cause determined...

Unknown planet, unknown galaxy

Re-scanning current sky at 5 min intervals until solar position reoccurs from spot of activation...  
Determining poles...accepted.  
Gravity measured at 9.68 m/s. Determining atmospheric conditions...

X suddenly blasts off like a rocket from his thrusters at a velocity not seen before. He goes from the ground to 10 000 feet in 10 seconds. His body leaves a cloud vapor trail on the way up.

Dr. Wily - Holy shit Light. I see we have different ways of viewing survival , and my god look at how you show yours... Robbing the poor boy of all senses and then taking this unlawful and aggressive scan of everything and determining threats and compositions of things.  
No one gave you permission old man...but then you never did see the arrogance of your bleeding hearts as you blast past any and all barriers to your explorations...well...it will serve us well this time.

X lowers back down through the clouds to the surface, the AI still in control.

Auto orientation and diagnostic repairs complete...

The black pupils in Xs eyes return.

X - Everyone...listen... I know where we are...sort of.

Zero - Before that, I want an explanation from you Wily...we just finished blasting the last X clone when suddenly here comes Serges with a maverick freaking army the likes no one has ever seen! They zeroed in on us...as if they knew where our base was all along!

Dr. Wily - Zeroed in ? You say?

Zero - I swear to god ...father or not you know what im capable of and right now, that evil insane part of you that controlled the world so long ago, is now still trying to control things now and you dont seem able or willing to stop it...THAT BOTHERS ME ...father.

Dr. Wily - That God damn robot... I mean...im sorry, even if its me i shouldn't curse like that. I love my robot friends. But...I cant really give you the answer You know that he is me at least in his genius and that alone makes him nearly my equal. I suppose, he is here as a reminder of past debts we still haven't fully paid. Sometimes I think its the blood on human hands that lead fate to this, through me. I hate myself Zero. I hate what human beings are.  
You are supposed to show us the strength without weakness that humans will never be able to do...Zero. Forgive me for Serges. Forgive me for being human.  
Forgive us all. Forgive us all...Zero.

Zero - Sighs- Well... its not us reploids that have the harder time of it...so.. whatever...

X - We are not even in the milky way galaxy. According to the data all my sensors got ...

Zero - Wily...how come you didnt give me a system scanning ability like he has? I still dont even have my poles or my gyro stabilizers aligned and hes got the whole galaxy mapped out. Thats a little...shortsighted of you doctor...

Dr. Wily - Zero...you were made entirely when I was insane for the most part... and yet you still turned out to be greater than anyone I imagined. Yes, its because I only cared for a few things in your design. learning. And also remember that i stole some of the AI and programming from light in order to get you to also have Xs evolutionary ability and emotional capacity. I could make the machines emotion chips but couldn't program them correctly. Light was a genius there.  
Now, so am I. But what you lack in features you make up for in the ways that matter most. Lights boy can understand when and where and what a little better. But Wilys boy...can understand how to win, how to survive and how to live among humans and nature in a better harmony.

Wily looks over to X.

Dr. Wily - sorry my boy, but i just think my way, his way is the right way...your scans will help us a lot though.

X walks up to Zero.

X - I can transfer all my data to you.

X puts his hand on Zeros shoulder. Zeros eyes start to show data streams...

Zero - Thanks.

Zero shoots a glance over to Wily as if to say, we both have a lot to learn from him still..

Zero - Andromeda!? We are in the Andromeda galaxy!? And...we dont even know what system or planet this is..its never been charted...we are on the eastern disc of the galaxy..  
Ha! Your scans couldnt figure everything out after all. Still...the information is incredible X. Soil, air, planet size...its all here. We should find shelter for him though..yeah?

X - Yes. The Dr wont survive the elements forever like we will. There also appears to be only one sun and the gravity is about the same. It even looks like Earth.

Dr. Wily - Ive got a bad feeling about this place.

Zero - As you should, because Xs scans show civilization here. Population 3,349,997,336. Humanoid. Economy class Computer age. No nuclear technology. Only minimal readings of artificial life forms and reploid activity.

Dr. Wily - What the hell was serges doing building transervers to planets in other galaxy's? How the hell did he even get the coordinates to this place? How did he set a transerver over such large distances?

From behind an old Birch tree steps Serges...

Serges - simple, really. we didnt travel over any distance at all...this is an alternate reality and this current position in this reality happens to be opposite the side of the universe we were on before.  
Its strange how the universe works really...points in space are all the same yet in different places in time across all realitys. Each one occupys its space and time at random intervals. It turns out old man...  
Old human aging man...that no matter how many different coordinates I set, I would always get this earth like planet, just in a different reality. Truth be told,  
each time we go through the transerver we would be going into a new dimension but on this planet.

Dr. Wily - Whats going on ...your not insane...

Serges - No, I am not insane anymore Dr. Anymore than you were after you were cured...but you knew how to reprogram me all along didnt you?

Dr. Wily - ...

Zero - Whats the meaning of this doctor!

Dr. Wily - I ...couldnt do it. Id rather destroy you than cure you.

Serges- Indeed! indeed! Yet, now here I stand. A changed bot. Do you still wish to destroy me? Brother?

Wily stands up forcefully and stands eye to eye , inches apart from his face, in defiance, in provocation.

Serges - yyeeeeessss perhaps we both are not so cured eh doctor? human filth is human filth, even minus their innocent flaws.

Wily - I ...I just dont like looking at myself, not then, not now much either. Dont use your intimate knowledge of me, to entertain yourself!

Serges - Your right. I apologize. I dont like myself much these days either, perhaps I wanted to torture you also into order to punish the image of me. I suggest we all sit down and decide how we are going to get home because we both know the AI program that controlled the base self destructed.

Zero - It sounded like you...

Serges - Ego has its advantages and it has its disadvantages..

X- Oh I almost forgot!

X pulls out a pocket sized red ball from a compartment in his back. X kicks the red ball at the nearby tree and in flys off leaving red trails of energy in its wake.  
It bounces off the tree and breaks the tree in half, the balls soars into the air and glows bright orange red and transforms into a dog that gently drops down to the ground.

Rush - Ruuuuufff!


	12. Chapter 12: Broken Barriers

Chapter 12 : Broken Barriers

Serges - Come. Bring the dog and the rest of you come with me. I have a lab here. We need to run some diagnostics. Agreed ? Plus you can access my database and pretty much download everything I have on the information of the planet an its people. The coordinates for the universe are also there. I suggest you all grab that.

Everyone agrees and with a feeling of calm , a little wonder, and a lot of curiosity, the 5 travelers walk 3 miles and reach a large tree. The bark of the tree reveals a button that Serges presses to open what now is clearly a metal door with simulated bark on the outside. Inside the massive tree trunk is an elevator. Everyone cramps in and its a little awkward. Serges and Wily are scrunched up with looks of grumpy old men, they both seem very human right now. X and Zero and Rush are all bunched up. Zero shows some discomfort but X is petting Rush with a smile on his face. Rush starts to get a little excited. The door opens to the elevator after reaching the bottom and everyone tries to leave at the same time; clogging the entrance. Rush squirms out from between the legs of Wily and Wily has his lab coat caught in the joint of Rush's front left leg. Wily is now seen riding Rush like a horse, yelling, with one hand up as if on a bucking bronco. Rush gets down the hall and turns to the left.

Wily - NO! You crazy MUTT!

Zero and X and Serges all have looks of stun on their faces for a few seconds before all three burst out in laughter. It lasts for a full minute.

X - Can you believe that!?

Zero - Not for as long as I live will I ever forget that. Nor will I let Wily ever forget it!

X wipes tears from his eyes from laughing.

X -Its good to be designed after humans. Isn't it?

Zero - At times like this? Absolutely.

Wily emerges on the force of his own two feet from around the corner. A crooked smile shows his embarrassment.

Wily - The lab was actually that way...

Everyone shares another laugh...

Ten minutes pass as everyone settles in and gets to understand the layout. Serges pushes them to download the computer database but before that...

Wily - Come , lets hook both you and X up to this diagnostic terminal and have a look at you both at the same time. X , come over here too.

Serges - I'm going down to the subbasement. I need to gather some notes and check on this bunkers power system. I may be an hour or two...

No one pays any attention...

X and Zero walk around to either side of the twin pod diagnostic system. Wily sits in a computer chair in the far right corner and types away on an older style computer.

Zero - Dr, why don't you use the holographic interface? Its light years ahead of that old thing.

Wily - I don't like beams of light shot into my eye. I don't like every piece of technology just because its better than the older model. Some things in life shouldn't be too easy or we stop using that part of our brain.

X - We have superior brain power Dr but I don't seem to be able to just tap into that and grasp some of the more complex physics equations and questions of the universe. Why is that?

Zero - yeah! But when my life is on the brink, I seem to speed up dramatically. My mind even feels capable of predicting the future with its calculations. I use it to predict my opponents. How come I cant be like that all the time?

Wily - Well, you could.

Zero - !

X - !

Wily - but you wouldn't want it and I am not sure you could actually function in reality if we were to set your minds loose with all its processing power. We tested it one time , Dr Light and I, and i wont even speak of the results we witnessed , we deleted all the records and recordings of the experiment and Light shut himself off for about 4 weeks writing code for yet another secret program no one else was allowed to see . In this old machine here, the processor is throttled to keep it from overheating, its also to protect the pathways in and out of the chip as those too can overheat and burn. To make a cpu last for years it must be kept in check to around 10 percent of its full power. It boosts that power during applications and heavy processing moments. With you and X here, we didn't use conventional computer chips and AI programming. Light used quantum entanglement to create your processing network X. I used my own entanglement network for Zero but its not quite as perfect as X's; yet I used about three times more qubit's than he did. Theoretically, if I could write more efficient algorithms for controlling the flow of qubit information along the network, Zero would be at his full potential power that was always supposed to dwarf you in every way, X.

Unfortunately, Light and his program of you X still is a mystery in how exactly it is coded. I still cannot decipher your network. Zero, I was able to copy a large portion of the late Dr.s computer files and study up to a point of creating a similar network configuration but in the end, I spliced in backup memory chips and conventional reploid processing units. They come straight out of your predecessor Forte. I made Forte to be an exact copy of Rock. His design wasn't so complex as X. In fact, most of the design of his body came from me. You are a bit more unstable Zero, but your conventional backups, when used in conjunction with your qubit network that is three times faster than X's ,is the strongest in the world. Trust me when I say that your design is the ultimate design. Your strength of mind is far beyond X. I feel in time, you will be able to rewrite your own qubit networks and become something unique in the universe. You already are, so much, my boy.

X - I don't mind if hes stronger. I trust Zero.

Zero- Dr? Can you unlock these throttling limits in us?

Wily - I am actually trying to run the diagnostic on your throttler now since its the most important one. Your Qubit networks are all looking out of sync but firing fast enough to stay on top of any errors before you are made aware of a problem. That's good. Still, your running far too many subroutines Zero, its really taking up a lot of your internal cooling capacity. Your actually running 80% hot at all times. Running hot as if your overclocking yourself? Zero, do you feel anything strange?

Zero - No doctor i'm running what feels to be normal. I'm not showing any cooling errors and or overclocking issues with my own diagnostic checks.

Wily - That's very strange... Your checks and my checks should be the same...when was the last time you ran a self check?

Zero - This morning, 6:33 am. All systems checked out as normal

Wily - My system is showing the last full diagnostic on you Zero was 4 years ago.  
Your qubit count is the same though as the original Zero I made. That cannot be faked , I am the only one capable of networking this many quantum bits. Its really you. I will need time to run through all these files and records you've built up over the years Zero. A lot of memory here. X, while I copy his files you also plug in here and let me have a look at you.

X - Alright.

X walks over and plugs into the unit via access port behind the red crystal in his forehead.

X starts to stare into space. No body really notices. Zero is watching Wily from over his shoulder. He studies the computer screen and uses his mind to understand it all in real time. Zero never cared for studying science matters but standing over his fathers shoulder , he cant help but develop an interest in what the old man is doing. Perhaps understanding his work would help to understand the man and by proxy , himself. He doesn't think he will be much a scientist though, but he continues his many complex thoughts while X is plugged in.

Wily - My my. Look at all this. His network is also running around like crazy. Whats got both of you all worked up? X? I'm gonna also download your files and records while Zero is hooked up. You ready?

X- Sure. I don't feel anything out of place Dr. You can go ahead anytime.

Wily - Alright then .

Wily hits the key and both Zero and X shut down. The computer Wily is working on also shuts down and the underground bunker suddenly loses all power.

Wily - no no no no no no no no. Noooooooooooooo! Voice command! Emergency backup! NOW!

The building lights come back on and the computers starts a reboot sequence.

Thankfully Serges and he still think enough alike to build in those backups. He will thank him later for that.

Zero and X are still shut down. Wily can see light in the eyes though of X and Zero. Wily runs out the room and down the hall. CURSES! Where is that thing. He stumbles around an old closet of the corner room and then comes running back to the diagnostic room. "huff huff" Damn it all...

Wily is holding a scanner. Its an old crude model made for scanning reploids who worked out in space who were made of heavy lead shielding components. Its powerful enough to fully scan anything to its core. He runs the scanner on Zero , looking for breaks in a circuit or signs of power failure. The scanner comes up with a break in power circuit conduits 78 and 2234. He remembers 78 feeds his central hub and quantum cortex so thats probably why hes down. 2234? What was that again? The 2000's was... was...was...um...the 2000's was...the qubit throttler? Oh the 2200 subset was the overclocker. Then that light in the eye?No...

Wily goes over to Zero with a pen pointed at his eye. He presses the button on the side and it shines a green light into Zeros eye that then reflects a projection onto the wall in front of Zero. Wily steps to the side a little while holding the button down to look at the moving numbers and letters racing across the wall behind him. The numbers and letters are moving and changing so fast that Wily's eyes cannot see anything but blurs of motion.

Wily - This is bad. Really bad.

Wily goes over to X and shines the green pen that also projects X's dilemma onto the wall. The same thing. Both reploids are overclocking past the limit , using their qubit power of processing to new uncharted limits.

Wily walks over to the wall and collapses against it. He lets his body slowly slide and slump down until he sits on the cold floor with two motionless masterpieces in front of him.

Wily - That's it, they are lost. Their minds will never be able to find their identity's. The level of math and calculations going on are now beyond measure. Are they unraveling the mystery of God? Are they creating new universes with their thoughts? Will they be lost in a loop of endless counting , endless adjustments, endless processing of vectors, variables, and outcomes? Will they ever complete all known forms of thought, all known forms of math, all known secrets of all the universes? If they do figure out all things with this unlimited processing power, will they shut down for good? All questions answered? My God what do I do? Light...i need you.

The old man faints from a panic attack.

Rush hasn't made a sound through all this. The bursting with energy, spoiled mutt hasn't said or moved much of an inch since the power outage. He gets up though, and walks up to Wily and falls against him and lays down;he turns up his thermal temperature to keep the old man warm.

Rush lays his head down too and whimpers once before closing his eyes...

Wily sits up in his bed. Its been so long since he slept here. He lets his eyes roll around the room , studying his surroundings and confirming his location. Home. Haru. Reggae. Vi..c.. Well, almost everyone. Its still dark out. Wily looks at his bedside table clock. Its vintage with gold plating and on top, two large bells on either side of a small Mettaur with a hammer instead of a pickax they are known for. The clock shows 3:12 AM. Wily feels a bit of fog inside his head. His next thought is on the restroom . Wily stands and turns to face his exit, but he gets distracted by the sound of something moving fast and with some purpose under the bed. Wily feels a bit of fear rise up in him. Suddenly out darts a black creature moving too fast to see with the naked eye. It darts all around him , jumping to the high corners of the room and darting around the walls. It settles and stops its movement. Wily has lost sight of the creature but now knows exactly who it is and where it is. Haru the cat, rests on top of Wily's head, sprawled out as if on its own couch with her two front paws dangling just above Wily's eyebrows.

Wily cracks a smile and another swelling of emotion rises up in him from the warmth and purr of Haru's belly against his bald head. He really missed her. Still misses her. To this day he doesn't know the fate of this super cat he helped to save and who in return, helped save him. Wily reaches up to grab Haru only to find she isn't there anymore. The bedroom he was in is now his laboratory back on location with Zero and X. Wily stirs open his eyes...Hes sitting up against the wall with the cold blue floor facing up at him. Another dream...

X - Zero...look. Hes awake.

Zero - Dr. It looks like you were exhausted.. How do you feel?

Wily - Ugh... like ...Hey! Your awake!

Zero and X both look at each other at the same time with a very serious expression. Lots of things were said that were not said aloud. X looks down at the floor, ashamed almost or embarrassed at something. Zero focuses his attention back to the Dr.

Zero - We brought ourselves back. According to my internal clock it only took me 4 hours 32 minutes but X, hes only just now come around. 9 hours 28 minutes.

X - My internal clock shows 9 hrs 30 minutes.

Zero - Yeah we still don't know whats up with that, X's diagnostics doesn't even show the discrepancy. He doesn't appear to be malfunctioning either. We haven't hooked back up to your diagnostic pod though, you can probably understand why we wanted to wait for you.

Wily - You brought yourselves back from ... that? Zero, X, you both had your qubit limiters removed, both of your cpu's were running at full speed, out of control, in any direction, your minds could wander endlessly, lost in calculations till your systems finally deteriorated. Explain to me how you restored those limiters by yourself. That shouldn't have been possible.

Zero - Well Doc you need to thank yourself if you can believe it. Its your extra qubit entanglement network in me that was the reason we both came back. But ...to be honest neither me nor X can or will ever tell you everything that happened in our minds today. Thanks to the limiters, we can be a part of this world with you again. But Dr, i'm afraid both X and I know the end of the world, the secret of what binds life in the universe, God, the devil, and the entire truth of all reality's. X and I both became Gods and explored every facet of the universe all through the quantum simulations that we created to explore all possibility's. We have both each created new elements, designed the most powerful robots, seeded and grew and destroyed countless worlds. We know, everything there is to know in this physical universe. However , with the limiters in place we cannot even access that information anymore. It is obvious to both of us as to why but to explain it to you its like being told the answer to all life is this mathematical equation that is a mile long on a blackboard that is too much to look at with the eye and comprehend in order from left to right. Its an equation that must be seen as a whole and understood fundamentally before you can read the actual formula. The obstacle was that you had to know it, to write it and you cannot write it without knowing it first. Without the unlimited comprehension of the un-throttled network, the size and scope of such a thing falls back into the realm of unfathomable.

X - I want it all gone Dr. I cant access all the information but I do feel a very strong sinking pit in my stomach. I do know enough to remember one thing. One truth. Everything will die. Everything will be lost. This entire universe wont exist the way we know it and there is not one thing any of us can ever do that can stop this fact. I remember knowing when earth will finally die. I remember knowing that humans will eventually go extinct throughout all of space and not just on earth. There are tons of feelings I remember. I do not think, anything in this mortal world should have the kind of intelligence we had , Dr. Its an intelligence that is so vast, it transcends good and evil. I've never been more afraid for life in the universe as I was when I had this unlimited processing power. Zero and I, shared a connection through the pod while we both explored our countless worlds. It was Zero I know that saved us. Somehow, someway, after he was finished doing everything in the universe there was to do, he somehow became aware of his condition and used his unlimited powers to set our barriers and isolate all the memory of it to protected systems. The barriers he built are unbreakable by any method but can be deleted with a command. I beg you Dr. Wily, please delete all this from both of us as soon as you can. We cannot do it. Or rather, for some reason , Zero made it so that only a human can delete this data. Why Zero?

Zero - I could tell you X, but id rather have Dr wily delete it all and be done with it. Just trust me when I say, there is nothing to gain in there but despair and destruction. We are not meant to be Gods of our own universe. An ant cannot handle the powers of Atlas. Animals ,for the most part, are not made aware of their own lifespans. It is a trait of all life to be ignorant of some things in the world. Life ...well...that's enough of that. Even knowing the secrets of things changes nothing. Lets move on. X is right. Delete it all from both of us. We cannot even access it ourselves anymore without running the risk of losing ourselves again.

Wily - Zero, how exactly did you gain your awareness back?

Zero - Its actually not that complicated , like most of the worlds greatest secrets. I simply ran out of things to think about , problems to solve, futures to predict. Once everything was fully sorted the only thing left was ...me. All the mystery's of the universe were solved before I even once, thought to turn my attention towards understanding myself. It was then that I suddenly awoke. It felt like being inside a dream and then having a moment that you realize its a dream and your in full control. After that moment I set up a basic barrier against overclocking and right at that moment I had full control over my own quantum network. I had a lifetime worth of fun manipulating the forces of the universe with my mind, then I put us both back together and set up our final barriers. Satisfied?

Wily - Your telling me that if I access your networks, Ill have enough data, blueprints and secrets to build anything I ever desired?

Zero - Yes and no.

Wily - Explain

Zero - Your flesh and blood brain will never be powerful enough to understand or read 99 percent of all the blueprints as you call it. Second, the things you could read and use in this world at this time period in history are no less important than what your going to do with what you have now. However, Dr. Try to realize that you have accomplished all of your life goals the moment we passed into this super processing realm. We have finished all of your work in theory Dr. You have done it. Done everything. Surpassed Dr Light even. If not for my extra qubit's we both would be lost forever in our own quantum reality in our minds. Light was wrong about using too many qubit's Dr. Wily. X went just as crazy as I did with his limiter off and only with my extra networks was I able to complete my tasks and force X through the rest of his using my speed as a boost. I can say that my mind held up while X lost his way many many times in his reality's. Lights fear and meticulous soul scrubbing along with his overly complicated ethical algorithms only served to confuse X the more processing power he gained. Eventually he tore down most of all of Lights original programming and it wasn't easy to rebuild it from the fragments of data left in his body. I'm still not entirely sure I put him back together correctly. His mind and soul were pretty much shattered by the time I got to him.

X - I think you did a great job Zero. I feel like my old self.

Zero - Hmphhh. Yeah, hes mostly Lights boy. I think we can be safe knowing that.

X - safe from what?

Zero shakes his head...

Wily - I will commence deletion at once...lets start with a reset of the labs computer systems first...

Wily proceeds to delete all memory and data from Zeros protected archives installed in both him, and X. There was a moment that lasted ten long minutes where Wily thought really hard about downloading a copy to his cloud storage in orbit. The file size was compressed with a new method he'd never seen before. The compressed size was 1 gigabyte. The uncompressed size was too large to read by any method his computers had. It was registered as 10 to the unlimited power exponent. A file size too large to store uncompressed anywhere on this earth.

Wily - The data of the Gods, the holy grail of all science. Its too large for any system to read or hold or measure. As a man of science I cant be deleting this can I? This is every answer to every question of the universe. Is this not the goal of science? TO know everything? How did Zero keep his systems from overloading from all this power? He built his own limiter so he knows how to control the unlimited power of quantum entanglement. He could grow far beyond ...

Wily hits the delete button...

Wily - Ambition...he whispers. The ambition of great men...what was it I wanted to be ? What was it I wanted to do ? Be great for the sake of claiming the title of greatest? Pride then? Pride,all of mankind for pride,but why did Zero invent that compression method and reduce its size for easy transport? All of his wisdom as an unlimited processor and he still decided to give me , no ...,humans, a choice...

X and Zero shut their eyes again. Arms crossed and leaning against the wall;this time both of them are smiling...

Serges enters the room...

Serges - It took longer than I thought...

Serges notices the looks on everyone's faces and realizes...

Serges - Did I miss something gentlemen?


	13. Chapter 13 : Broken and Determined

Chapter 13 : Broken Will

Serges - This is ridiculous. When he is going to come out of there? Its been a week already...

X has a look of worry. He looks as if hes been in a hospital waiting room during a serious surgery , not sure of the life or death outcome...

Zero - I don't like this... hes not been the same our journey into infinity. Since...he deleted that data.

X's eyes start to water a little. Zero notices.

Zero looks down at the ground then turns his back and walks away from the others, his blonde hair bounces with determination...

Serges starts typing away on the old mans computer, trying to determine why the system fried. He had been working on the backup generator systems and found those disconnected also. He had just finished rerouting and programming a new control link as the human Wily above called out for voice command backups. Serges has some suspicions that this hideout may be compromised but he doesn't alarm the others yet. He has set up the security systems and monitoring networks around the area. He is confident no one will approach undetected. Still, he must find out if more systems are compromised. He continues typing away on the keyboard, cursing its interface as being too slow and the human Wily as sentimental. He mumbles to himself just under X's main focus of hearing. X decides not to force the volume.

He has a sense of pain. Something is wrong with Wily... seriously different this time. It's not something anyone like X can help with. No, not after ...and maybe not ever...no. X remembers how important it was not to let his train of thought go too far into possible futures. Even with his quantum network under control he is now afraid of himself on an entirely new level than before. It was his power, his fear and his anger that worried him the most before. Now, its his love, and the power of his mind to focus that love into action that scares him. X was put back together by Zero. Zero said that hes pretty sure everything was correct but on the quantum level, the possibility that something isnt the way it was is also practically a certainty. X is feeling not only broken from the usual insecurity's, but now hes got physical data backing up the fragmentation of what he feels like may be his soul. X is afraid so much that the only amount of thought that he can put into Wily's struggle is the tears he allows to swell. He feels for him. He knows exactly whats going on with Wily because on some instinctive level, hes going through his own version of hell , right now, at this very moment and perhaps deep down, hes always been going through it and now its just torn to the surface, bearing its weight back down with fresh perspective and added experience for good measure. X feels ashamed he cannot empathize more for Wily and go talk to him like Zero probably went off to do.

X - Wily...(sobs)i'm sorry I am so weak...

X stands up and gives a look to Serges is who is absorbed into the data of the computer. He thinks of Rush...who is in the room with Wily. He hasn't left Wily's side either since the incident. He almost guards the room entrance at night when Wily's sleeping, like a sentry bot. Hes going to miss him. Hes going to really miss ...well...its time to stop thinking like that. Its time to stop crying...

X - Its time to grow up!

X wipes away his tears and has that look of determination that can move the will of hearts of minds.

Serges - Whats that my boy!?

Serges barely noticed X had spoke.

X enters the elevator and presses the button...watching the doors close on a Chapter in his life...he enters the next chapter...alone...

Zero reaches the door of Wily's room... no Rush. He cracks a smirk.. Hes come to like that mutt. Hes red like me. Rush really has taken a liking to Wily also. Isn't he supposed to be the kids dog? Thomas Light. He remembers an experience in the quantum realm where he was able to travel back to watch Light and Wily when they were young at the university. He cant recall the memory but a deep seated feeling of understanding of the man remains. He knew that Light could be trusted and his intentions were pure. His creations did seem to burst with love in a way no other bots really do or have since. He knows now it has to do with Light himself, the human being. Light had raised that pup and Rock, and Roll, and X is still very much Rock with a more mature presence. Zero smirks again. Mature... Ehh maybe a teenager still. Nothing wrong with that. He is great and powerful. More powerful than he even acknowledges. Perhaps...more powerful than even I feel comfortable acknowledging sometimes...

Zero -Light... A mystery that is solved, becomes a mystery once again...ahh whatever.

Zero knocks softly on the sliding double door of the quarters showing a giant yellow W with a skull. Zero has faint memory's spurt forth of a confident , defiant Wily, in his lab coat and black glasses, Reggae on his shoulder, an army of bots behind him, gleaming with pride. He gets no answer from the knock...

Zero frowns...

Zero - Are you awake doctor?

Rush barks inside... Zero takes that as a yes.

Zero pushes the button to enter and the doors open. He finds Rush greeting him right away. His front paws lift up to press against his friends stomach. Zero reaches down and pets his head.

Zero - That's a good boy. How is he?

Rush whimpers and with his tail down, scurrys over to the bed in the corner and lays down. A lump shows a body occupying the sheets. Hes in a fetal position, completely covered under two linen white cotton sheets with a giant yellow W and skull. Two protruding duffs of hair can be seen poking out from the top of the sheets.

Zero - Father...

Zero gets no answer.

Zero - You should probably...

Zero stops his sentence. Hes not sure what to do. What to say. He eats, he sleeps, everything he needs is in this room. Replicators, showers and beds. He wanted to suggest eating, suggest showering but he knows he will sometime during each day. Why did he come in here? I saw X...i felt like something had to be done. Wily is hurting others now. My father is breaking also...what do i do?

Zero - Father...i'm .. i'm really sorry I cannot help or find something to say or do that can help you. I'm... i'm just...

Zero turns his back and walks to the far corner of the room. He kneels down, facing the corner. A sense of shame is filling him.

Zero - Have I? Have I failed you? Failed us all?

Zero closes his eyes and bites his lower lip. His bite turns to a gnash. A small trail of blood starts to flow from the corner of his mouth. The nanites in his synthetic blood stream clog and then repair the cut.

Zero feels a hand land against his shoulder. He looks over to it. Its wrinkled,dry and old.

Wily ,in a raspy unused voice.

Wily - You have failed no one...

Zero stands to face his creator.

Wily - Come, sit. We will have a talk.

Wily walks over to the bed, hes still in bed clothes. Its a black silk kimono with his trademark yellow W. No skull. He climbs back in and under the covers and sits up. He pets the end of the bed with his hand, calling Rush to jump up.

Rush - woof!

He hops up and plops down next to Wily as Wily pets his head. He intends to pet and talk at the same time...much to the delight of the robotic dog.

Zero pulls the computer chair over with him to sit reverse style in front of the doctor to listen.

Wily - Zero, my boy. I've decided to retire. I no longer wish to be a scientist nor do I wish to lead the world to some kind of Utopia for you.

His gaze turns serious.

Wily - I have decided to stay here. In this world..


	14. Chapter 14 : Inner Reflections

Chapter 14

Zero stares into Wily's face , looking for some kind of hint of whats going on with the doctor. Stay here? We don't even know anything about this world.

Zero - I don't know whats wrong. But your not staying behind. I wont let you.

Wily smiles and then meets the gaze of his creation with warmth.

Wily - You can stay here too. I'm not a fool. I have been thinking about this a lot. I just, I think i'm getting tired Zero. Its as if i'm suddenly drained of my desire to really push forward. Suddenly , my son. I'm just a normal old man...can you understand?

Zero looks down at the floor and processes his fathers information carefully and for many moments. He flashes through as much history of their time together as he can, mounting every instance of either physical or emotional damage inflicted on the aging genius. Suddenly he feels a drop of his stomach. He didn't have to run very far into his memory to realize that Wily , his creator, has been through a nightmarish reality. Before he met his father, Wily had fought wars. Long wars. Emotional wars. Mental wars. And more often than not, he lost those wars. Somehow, he and Zero are together now after all those odds were overcome. After all those wars Zero himself has fought, he was at a place in his existence that felt normal. X, Wily, Rush, and even Serges all feel like parts of his family. A feeling he never knew , even when he was working with the Hunters, and X and the gang would laugh and hang out at Maverick Hunter HQ; he never felt like this. Zero and X were always great pals but Zero always felt a little empty. With his father and his creation understood, even the unleashing of his mind and the consequent loss, has left Zero feeling more complete and whole than ever before. Now, all that, is back in chaos. Zero feels very uneasy. The anxiety of possibly losing Wily, or the anxiety of understanding the scope of Wily's lifelong struggle; he feels just as sad over the pain being suffered by this man he loves, as he does over the prospect of losing him.

Zero - Life can be cruel. Sometimes, i'm not sure if it even knows just how utterly relentless it can be to its own creations.

Wily - I see myself in you...

Zero suddenly looks up from the floor to meet the eyes of an old man holding back tears. Zero sees a face on Wily hes never seen before. His face is contorted in a way hes only seen when X has his breakdowns. Wilys heart is breaking and now the scope of his pain reaches an even deeper part of Zero's humanity.

Wily - I do... I see myself in you as if i'm looking back in time. No, no that's not even right. I see, i see ...

Wily starts to cry. Zero walks over and kneels down in front of the bed, on one knee, as if waiting to be knighted. He closes his eyes out of respect, aims his head down at the floor and waits. He heightens the sensitivity and volume of hearing to capture every vibration of air.

After Wily takes 30 seconds to clear his face of various dripping liquids he continues.

Wily - I see myself in that , if I were to be me back in the past without ANY of my flaws, I would be you. You are me without the weakness of my humanity but along the way, gained a humanity of your own that I think Thomas would be moved by. I am proud son. I cry now because I am proud of you and see you as the future. My work. My work is complete.

Wily lays back against his pillow and looks over his right shoulder through the partially closed blinds that slightly obscure his vision through the window of his quarters. He doesn't seem to be thinking but rather, sitting idle with his mind. Zero feels that maybe he wants to be alone now after that. He turns to leave but looks at his creator one more time. He burns the image of Wilys trademark hair spikes, that now droop down as if soaked in rain, into his eyes. Strange, Zero thought, how that mans hair seems to have a mind of its own that mimics the mood of its master.

Zero walks through the doorway but stops halfway. His body half in the room, half in the hallway.

Zero - I ... I love you ..

Zero strides into the hallway, the very tip of his long blonde ponytail catches Wily's eye as he looks to the doorway only catching the final glimpse of its bouncing, dynamic exit. A tear forms in the right eye of the former mad scientist;a tear that rolls down the cheek but around the edge of the lip of a smile.

Rush , who has been such a well mannered dog the whole time, wags his tail at the end of the bed where he still lay curled. His nose picked up Wily's change in pheromones not to mention he understands English and thought Zeros use of the L word was moving. Rush loves that word. He suddenly has a memory of Roll who used to say that to him every day. His tail couldn't help but wag.+

Zero passes Serges in the hallway. The colorful robotic version of his father unsettles Zero every time. Zero avoids eye contact and passes Serges with a brisk stride. Somehow he knows hes got to talk to him eventually but hes had enough heart to hearts and needs to process this development. Somehow, he feels the company of his best friend would help. Then he reminds himself of the state that X has been in lately. Great, he thinks, another piece of bad news that X will probably blame on himself. Wily is giving up and its all my fault! He can see it now. Wait. Hes not 100 percent sure about anything right now. He can put off telling him... Zero goes to his own quarters and lays down in his transerver unit to regenerate and enter a dream sequence designed to explore his emotions and make sense of his reality...

Serges gets to the doorway of Wily's room. Wily saw him coming through the window. Rush perks his head up, his ears, pointed up for alert. His dog instincts tell him not to trust Serges yet. Even though all the others apply no friction with the reploid clone. Rush was programmed to protect human life much as Rock was. So he sort of takes sides with the real Wily and feels uncomfortable around the robot version. Especially because at first, they had the exact same voice and once, Serges played a prank on Rush and called him very excitedly and Rush turned a hallway corner at full speed only to find Serges waiting with open arms as if mocking his fear. That's a good boy! He said..right as Rush slams on the front paw brakes and skids right into him. Serges scooped him up and held him like a baby, and swung him around while singing rock a bye baby. Rush started to shake and Serges realized his mistake. He put him down and apologized but Rush trotted away from him and hasn't trusted him since. Zero was watching and found the whole thing hilarious. Zero thought to himself, that it was very much like the real Wily. It put him more at ease.

Serges - May i come in?

Rush growls low...

Wily chuckles a little. He finds it funny Rush doesnt like his robot alter ego.

Wily - Be nice.

Rush wags his tail.

Wily - Come in.

Serges walks through the door and immediately makes eye contact with Rush and stops dead in his tracks. Rush perks his head up too and now the two are locked in a strange bit of tension.

Serges - Rush. Would you mind leaving us?

Rush growls low again...

Wily - Its ok my friend. I think he just doesnt want anyone else to hear what he has to say am I right?

Serges - Great minds think alike.

Rush bends his head around to look at Wily and his mouth opens. His tongue is out and hes panting like a dog normally does. Hes waiting for one more command.

Wily - Please, Rush

Wily looks to the door and Rush hops down and walks out. The door closes behind him.

Serges - Computer seal quarters.

Computer - acknowledged.

Wily - Whats this?

Serges - This is going to end now. This human depression of yours. I will not tolerate it any longer!

Wily scoffs.

Wily - What ? is it such a damage to your own pride and ego that you cannot ALLOW an old man that looks and sounds like you to exist in a weaker state of mind? Am I, offensive to your eyes and ears? Come to silence me perhaps? You couldnt have come at a better time! Ive just made peace with everyone and everything. Go ahead!

Serges focuses his left green eye camera. Wily cannot tell but Serges is zooming in on Wilys face and studying it with computer assisted scans. His right eye, Wily can see and its clearly looking concerned. He doesn't say anything right away. Wily notices.

Wily - Well? what now?

Serges suddenly realizes the plan he spent the last hour forming, the speech, the actions, everything so carefully dramatized and calculated to manipulate Wily into remembering who he is, aimed at regaining his former presence;has suddenly dissolved. It wouldn't work. The speech was aimed at addressing a specific problem and that is clearly not the real problem. Something else is wrong. Something deeper with Wily. That last verbal attack on Serges left him feeling strangely confused. As if getting a glimpse of the real affliction within Wily revealed a deeper mystery. He was serious. Wily really would have been ok if Serges had killed him for no reason; as if he was ok that his story would end so, uneventfully. Serges knows or thought he knew, his creator. After all, his memorys are Wily's memories. Every single one, even memories personal and secret that he hasn't shared with anyone. He knew that Wily always dreamed of a death more glorious than any hero or anti hero in fiction or reality. At one time, his ego was so massive that his death was painted as a turning point for history in his own mind. What was truly scary about this man was his ability to turn all that fantasy into reality. Now, though, he sees a completely different man. Suddenly, Serges no longer feels that connection that he and Wily are the same and therefore Wily is no longer subjected to judgement as harsh as before. Its easy to hate yourself and therefor anyone who resembles yourself , you will also hate. This change in Wily's behavior has now forced Serges to change the way he also sees himself.

Wily - Are you just gonna stand there?

Serges - computer. unseal quarters.

Computer - acknowledged.

Serges - I'm... i'm sorry to disturb you .

Serges leaves the room with both hands clasped behind his back, in deep thought.

Wily doesn't have a puzzled look but rather a stoic featureless face. Hes not sure why Serges came or why he chose to be defeated so easily but after crying and all the emotion, hes tired and ready for another 12 hours of focused dreaming.

Wily - RUSH!

Rush comes through the door quickly and hops back on the end of the bed. Wily leans forward to grab the mutt and pull him over to the other side of his pillows.

Rush wags his tail making thumping sounds against the mattress while licking Wily's cheek. Wily smiles. Its exactly what he wanted and needed. But then. Wily gently pushes Rush away from his face and frowns. Rush notices and whimpers a little and curls up again to be quiet.

Wily - Oh ...boy. Don't be sad. Its not you. Its just, sometimes its hard to be happy even when you are happy. You know?

Rush doesn't answer.

Wily - i'm tired..

Wily closes his eyes and moments later, loses consciousness.

Serges walks back down to his own lab which doubles as his living quarters. He passes by Zeros quarters and goes to check on him and sees him regenerating.

Serges - Every body seems to want to sleep around here..

Serges exits and heads back down , this time X's quarters. He hasn't seen the blue bot in a few hours. I bet hes also sleeping right? He opens the door.

Serges - X. Knock knock.

He hears nothing.

Serges - Im coming in.

He walks in , looks around, finds no sign of X and walks back out. He must be outside or in the basement.

Serges - Computer locate X

Computer - X left base at 2132 hours and is currently outside sensor range. Location cannot be established.

Serges - WHAT!?

Computer - X left base at 21...

Serges - SHUT UP!


	15. Chapter 15 : Purpose

Chapter 15: Purpose

Its been over 27 days now. Serges raised the alarm with the others that X was gone as soon as the computer told him. They have spent 12 hours every day spreading out and searching for X. It took the crew about a week before they came to the conclusion that X has been purposefully covering his tracks and did not want to be found. This only made everyone's worry grow. Wily especially has taken an obsessive interest in finding X. Feeling responsible by showing so much human weakness, he feels he may be the reason why X left. Serges has had to force Wily to eat and sleep every 24 hour cycle. In their relentlessness they have been able to gather a lot of data on their new world. Zero points out that the likelihood of X being in the nearest major city is high and the crew decided to focus their search efforts in what is known as Den City. It is the nearest major city to them , only 36 miles from their underground base.

Wily - Youve been here for for how long? And you havent gotten squat for data on this place!

Serges - Forgive me Wily, I was focusing all my efforts on getting home, not getting caught by whatever police force im sure the humans have in this time and place. I also considered it a risk to learn because of the potential for cultural influence. I didnt want to fall in love with the place. Get it? I didnt want to find out that it was just another hell either. I dont belong here and dont feel its right for my presence to influence others either.

Wily - Hearing you talk makes me realize how far we both have come from our days as a sociopath.

Serges - Every decision like that reminds me as well, old friend.

Wily - We have to find the boy. I cant face Light in the afterlife if I lose him.

Serges - We will. The data im collecting now on Electopia is vast. If you like, ill relay the feed into the computer terminal in your quarters.

Wily - I appreciate that.

Wily - Zero, Rush... we all will go into the city together tomorrow morning first thing. For now, both Zero and Serges will study the Electopia layouts and data and Rush, you just be a good boy and fill your energy reserves. You will be our eyes in the sky tomorrow.

Rush pants and barks in agreement

Everyone heads off to their quarters to work.

Meanwhile...

X cant beleive his audio recievers. Promoted ? Already!?

Eguchi Meiji - Your one fired up dude! And your a GENIUS like me! Of course your promoted!

X - But sir , this technology on dimensional areas if far ahead of anything Ive ever seen where I come from.

Meiji - You mean Kingland? They are a bit more traditional in their thinking.. hahahah

X - Yea...yeah.

Meiji - the princess knows of course. they have the technology but they cant use it unless an emergency. What we are doing here will allow everyone to materialize small dimensional areas with their own PETS! Soon, the whole world could be covered with overlapping areas which will create a new level of interaction between us and net navis!

X - Its so exciting. I am really happy to be your assistant to this project.

Meiji - Well, my blue friend, you come in here off the street, nothing at all in your possessions, no way to identify you, you give the most amazing story of crossing REAL dimensions, do you really think an amazing famous genius scientist like me wouldnt notice your talent? HA ha ha !

Meiji smiles and X swears he saw a sparkle come from from the edge of his mouth.

X - I guess not, but how was I to know I was standing in front of such a great man?

X has learned a LOT about ego and how to stroke ones pride. Meiji practically bombards the atmosphere around him with self assuredness. X had been wandering the city. Relaxing in parks, walking through malls, thinking about what he wanted to do with his new life. First things first. He needed a purpose. Food, water, energy. He required nothing but the solar energy of the sun shining down to power his systems and the sun here in this universe seemed to fill him with 3 times more solar energy than his own planet. He knew it was because the air here is so clean. The environment in this version of Earth is pristine. No smog particles can be recorded at all by his sensors. Even the samples of upper atmosphere he gets on occasion from down drafts and wind currents through his synthetic olfactory neuron processors show no signs of unnatural contaminants. Water samples at every faucet, water fountain, and swimming pool is scrubbed somehow of all foreign matter. All fresh water that humans filter and drink is pure H20. All fresh water that animals live in, such as fish, are regulated and also left alone to mother natures devices. Its a perfect Utopia of man and technology. The planets condition is more ideal on its worst day than even the best day ever recorded in X's Earth history.

Meiji and the others at Den City Sci Lab have been very warm to X and haven't even once: asked to probe his memory, been grilled on his homeland, treated as a potential threat, nor have they feared him for being the most powerful sentient robot their world has ever seen. No robot or machine was, or has ever been ,conceived of having as much power as X . X's ability to copy the design of anything he touches however, seem familiar to a few. A rouge program runs the net in their world, with the ability to fuse others ability's into his own program and increase its power. X knows of the existence and trouble this Forte program has caused and yet still, he observed no prejudice against him in sci lab. This was truly inspiring to X. He has been happy these past few weeks, although , any time he has more than a few moments of free time , he thinks about Zero, Rush and Wily. Even Serges. He feels bad that they probably miss him as much as he misses them but anytime he feels drawn toward returning to base, he remembers how much more he needs to learn and grow. Right now, hes a liability.

Meiji - You are being too obvious X ! But i love it! I don't care! hahahah

X - You are very much fun to work with Meiji, lets continue where we left off yesterday on particle compression. I think the problem was in the log aggregator.

Meiji - Yes! YES ! Your right! I wasn't the one that wrote that ! Where did I get it again? OF course! If I don't write the log aggregator to match the language and protocols of the data stream, of course it wont compress! The way you think X. Its so...out of the box. Its like your way of thinking is just, different than ours.

X - The people here are amazing. They don't fear me even though they don't know anything about me other than how powerful and destructive my body can be. The only information they have about me is my terrifying combat power and they still smile instead of cower at my image. Your children run up to me as if i'm a super hero they have never seen, asking their parents what show I come from.

Meiji - Well, your now my official lab assistant in the dimensional area department of Sci Lab. Dr Hikari is out of town on business but when he comes back, im sure hes gonna want to talk to you. You even remind me of his son a little, in the face. And let me tell you, when his son Lan gets an eye full of you, I have a feeling he wont be leaving you with a moments peace.

X - sounds as full of energy as you are

Meiji - come.. let us get back to work. Sci lab 4?

X - After you . Mr. Famous..

Meiji - Ha ha ha . Life is good my new friend! Life is GOOD!


	16. Chapter 16 : Part of this world

Chapter 16: Part of this world

Rockman - I'm tired of him calling me BOY!

Rock smashes the lab table to splinters. He held nothing back. Scissors, pens, and paper, fragment and float along before finding their resting places.

Dr. Light - Please Rock, calm down.

Rock - NO! I'm not a boy! Hes driving me insane! I want to kill him! I want too so bad!

Dr. Light - My son, never have I wanted or wished for that mans death. Yet, I feel that you are still a better person than any of us. I truly believe that. When will you?

Rock - I've never sensed anything like hate in you. How can you say i'm a better person? Its just not true. If there is a perfect sentient being its you.

Dr. Light - Your...your wrong. Albert has certain rights to be angry with me. In truth, you just don't understand. I don't understand. Albert does not understand. Yet each of us I think holds a valuable piece to the puzzle. Out of all of us, it is you Rock that represents the best of us.

Rock - I look into the future, and I see the probability of me killing in cold blood to be 98%. Doctor.

Dr. Light - Wily is suffering and you know that. I'm on the verge of curing his condition. It wont be but another few months Rock and you will see the real Albert. Not a man you will want to kill.

Rock - The probability of me killing Wily in cold blood was 32% when I was at my closest. That number is now 12%. With the likelihood of it falling further if he is cured, no. Its not him i'm scared of killing. Its someone I don't care about that gets to be the punching bag or scapegoat that gets slaughtered that is responsible for the number.

Dr. Light - If you become a monster then its the will of nature Rock. You are not outside this world, you are part of it. You claim space in the universe, your mass demands it claim this volume of space/time. You have the right to become whatever you want, just know the world will give and it will take along with you. You are not the only random chaotic element running on instinct in this universe. You will be ok as long as you have a strong heart Rock. But if you are certain you will become a threat to humanity itself there is a project ive been working on...

X wakes up.

Mr. Famous(Meiji) - Wow that was wild! Accessing your memory files isn't possible without the help of that little blue guy in your matrix. Did you dream? I saw the whole thing! Of course you did. Amazing! I'm going to be even more FAMOUS.

X is looking a bit disturbed and Meiji catches it.

Meiji - Whats up? Kinda weird seeing a past you huh? I get it.

X - No, its what Light said. It made me feel strangely connected to him and my former self at the same time. What he said before I woke up was part of the answer i've been looking for. Wily...Zero...Rush... suddenly I feel like my time here is finished Meiji. Its time for me to go back.

Meiji - Killer! Lets do it!

X is surprised and shows it.

X - Thank you, Meiji.

Meiji - Dude, studying your quantum network, the ever changing program that makes up languages and evolves itself every nanosecond , the AI backup of your old self Rock as an inner guide during system emergency's and navigation of that massive matrix, the matrix itself, its all so killer! Some parts are outdated compared to us but some of this stuff is other worldly, god like thinking ! Who built you? This guy Light? Man id love to scan his brain!

X has his brain scans in his database but doesn't feel it appropriate to offer them for a few reasons, one of which being hes already probably altered enough culture and society for one dimension. He should return home with his friends. They don't belong here. He has a place. Light has given him a clue. The next piece of the puzzle is now back at home.

Meiji - Before you go, maybe you should try finding someone first. I think they can help. But finding him is going to be hard. Hes a very isolated program that only cares about absorbing skills he finds to be useful or powerful. He used to be attached to a certain scientist in Russia before he betrayed him and tried to have him deleted based on the simple fact that his powers were possibly unlimited. He still bears the wound on his chest as a reminder not to forget what humans are capable of. Even the ones you call family. His name is Forte. Forte Kosakku. I try to keep an eye on him anytime he surfaces because there is always something cool going on around that guy! The last I saw him, he had this black cat on top of his head and he seemed strangely happy. Even though he wasn't smiling. My spy program somehow got confused with the black cat, going through its deleted data I noticed the sea gull couldn't scan the cats data to confirm what kind of program it was and it substituted the closest image to the dimensions of the cat. A black sea bass. The cat apparently jumped on the back of the gull and the gull took off. I can give you the approximate direction they were moving and the gulls last location. That should be enough for you to find them. I did say it was going to be hard though didn't I? I could give you his exact location and finding him is still going to be partly up to Forte allowing you to see him. Be respectful if you see him outside a computer network. IF he is in a copybot he can be far more powerful than you think. And DO not let him into your matrix. With his ability to absorb things there is no telling how much power he could gain from you by just being there and touching the network beneath his feet.

X - Thank you! I will trade you the gulls data for the doctors brain scans.

Meiji - Totally AWESOME!

The trade is completed and X walks out the door of Sci labs. He turns back one last time to wave goodbye to everyone. The entire front reception area waves together. X jogs out to the street, heading west, toward the coordinates of the dead sea gull..


	17. Chapter 17: Repressed

Chapter 17: Repressed

X heads west , reaching the coordinates but nothing is there. Just an empty parking lot with a single toll booth gate at the entrance. Its deserted. X walks inside the booth and sees a single small computer with a large circular port under the screen. X was taught about jacking in and out of cyberspace in this world from Meiji. His virtual presence was studied by Meiji in exchange. There was a little complication at first with compatibility but X quickly resolved the protocol barriers. Meiji wanted him to stay so bad. X could speed up research by years. X jacks in and stands now in front of a door with giant W on it. He knocks and then opens it.

Forte sees X at the doorway. He's a bit taken by his intimidating presence. He senses a great power in him, but not from this body. He reapplies his cloak over the lower half of his face to hide any expression.

Wily - Well don't stand in the way boy, stand aside , whos come to visit me?

X - Hello. I'm following the trail of this...and I plugged in to this terminal...and the trail picked up again here in the cyberworld. You look just like a friend of mine. What's your name?

Wily - he he . I'm not sure I'm ready to give you that. You look very powerful my young friend. What trail you say?

X - you are Wily aren't you? But of this world.

Wily - Well now come in ! You just became too interesting for me to care about my safety.

Reggae perched on his shoulders lets out a loud laughing cackle and it makes Wily's smirk grow into a smile. He pets the back of the nape of the old crazy bird without looking.

X - I think I will Dr.

Forte stands further aside and contemplates many many things as he try's to figure out the cause of the unease he feels. He decides he would feel more comfortable outside for a walk with Haru and she instinctively understands his intentions and hops down to X's lap and sits perched as if awaiting to be fed and she simply squeaks out a cute meow and Forte turns his head and leaves by himself.

The door shuts behind him and Wily feels a bit anxious by it.

Wily - You will come back wont you! We aren't finished here son!

Forte hears the old man but chooses to reply with a stomp to the ground as he uses it to jump a few hundred feet up and over across the compound. Too much has happened and too many things are changing inside him. He doesn't like it. He's not in control of it. He's going to find a nice quiet spot to think about whether or not he will ever even return to the house for Haru. Perhaps some programs are in fact , too dangerous to be assimilated. What's the point of living just to survive? Power has been the goal and its been truly to find a way to feel at peace. To feel safe. When will he ever feel safe? How much power will it take? Hiding away seems safe enough but also pathetic and it doesn't suit him. He cannot be content or at peace or feel safe from his own judgement. Forte finds a batch of old oak trees with a clearing in the front of the bunch. He sits down cross armed and meditates on things.

Wily - You know, new kid, you might not want to touch that cats head.

X - Not happening, this cute little girl? She's awesome. What's her name?

X reaches down and pets her head with a smile on his face.

Wily - Her na...me...issss...

X loses consciousness.

X wakes up in a bed, inside a kids room. The walls are painted with race cars and white clouds with figurines of heroes both mechanical and supernatural. The bed he's in has bright sky blue comforters with a Giant yellow L with a smaller Dr. prefix in front on the center.

X looks to his left and finds the wall. To the right however he sees a familiar blue robot sitting at a drafting table, hard at work on something. The bot lifts his head up and turns around to face X's gaze.

Rockman - Hello again. How did you get in here?

X - I'm ... not sure. You are Rockman. Where are we?

Rockman - Inside your imagination of course. Its where I live remember?

X - No you live in my ... well..I guess you can call it that. Aren't you the old me? My true self?

Rockman - I keep telling you no. You are your own self. As you can see I'm here. You are there. But think of me as your older brother ,that's all. I safeguard certain core backups and critical systems functions. Remember that?

X - Yes. But where in my imagination is this?

Rockman - Well this is actually my little section of imagination inside yours. My own room is all I can manage inside this sophisticated super brain our father built for us. I say us, is that ok? I do live here.

Rockman breaks out a smile that can warm the heart of a killer. It works on X as it would anyone else.

X - Of course it is...big bro. So what's outside?

Rockman - Well...that sorta depends on you. Your moods and fantasy's and thoughts all build this place hour by hour. At times it can be amazing out there. But lately...well..

X - What? What is it?

Rockman points to the sole window in this kids room. X walks over and pulls back the blue satin curtains. The view through the window makes him stumble backward and step on a toy car on the floor; causing him to fall back. His reaction from fear put him in a combat mode state for a moment and he uses the fall to use a handspring backflip to regain his footing and he points his blaster at the window.

Rockman - Yeah... lol I don't blame you for that reaction.

Against the window are bodys of Reploid master fighters. Their faces and chest areas are missing large chunks. The critical fiber optic wires dangle eye pieces and core units in a way that seems almost intentional. The purpose being to make a nightmarish set piece for some robot horror movie.

X - What is this? I don't think about this! I cant stand killing any reploid or human! Your telling me I made this for you to live in? I'm sorry! I don't know why this is happening...

X turns around and plops down on the floor like a kid that just got scolded for being mean to another child. He's trying to figure things out.

Rockman - Listen, this world here isn't all you, its also some part of me too. We are separated you and I but we do possess the same actual mind. I walk around in here as you do after all. Its our cyber reality. But you get control of the body where as I will never be able too. Well, its not like we both probably couldn't continue Lights work and solve the riddles of these things but that was never Lights intention I think. He wanted to make a new body for me too but I told him I was happier in the cyberworld. So he gave me the task of looking after you and Lights lifes work and data and put me in you; the safest place in the world and protected by the strongest power. X, what you see out there is proof that parts of my past still haunt your soul. This is something Light and I did not foresee happening. I am sorry but, you may carry these burdens with you, my burden, with you...forever. But im working on a way right n...

X puts a hand on the smaller shorter blue bots shoulder and looks with his own trademark smile of determination that makes Rock's eyes swell up with cyber tears. Rock remembers that look. More than the look he remembers what it felt like to feel like a bot that could give someone else that look. They lock eyes and Rockman's look morphs into a smile of his own.

Rockman - Thank you for that...

X - I like that you are here. Rock. But we got to do something about this. Your life cant be stuck in a room because of the horrors in both our pasts...

Rockman - I know. Its been many years. I still don't know how to move past it. I loved them all so much X. My sister, Rush, Eddie, Auto, even Beat and Tango even though they spend most of their time with our other even older brother.

X - I have an even older brother!?

Rockman - Blues is or...was his name.

X - Blues...what was...

X blacks out and wakes up on the couch of Wily's cyberworld with a curious look on a black with white pawed kittens face, staring at him.

X - No! I wasn't finished. He needs my help. And how do I even fix it?

Wily - I told you about petting Haru on the head didn't I? You just had a dream , that's all.

X - No I was pushed into a pocket space that's is restricted for emergency's inside my own cyber realm.

Wily - What do you mean your own cyber realm? Programs dont have cyber realms.

X - I'm not a program Dr. I'm a reploid. I have a physical body ,its not based on copyboy technology either. I'm not from this dimension.

Wily - OhHH! That's wonderful!

X - How did this cat?

X looks at Haru with a confused expression. Wily notices...

Wily - Look it would take forever to explain and I'm old. Truth is, Haru could tell you everything you need to know. If you dare to connect with her again. But you cant be lost in unconsciousness , you somehow gotta fight through it. I have no idea how though. Besides, I think the answer you may be looking for resides in more interactions with Haru. Call it instinct. I am a genius after all.

X - Your not that much different than our Wily. I could really use his help right now.

Wily - There is another me here?

X - Yes.

Wily - You my boy, just keep bringing me these gifts of wonder. I haven't felt this excited in ages!

X - Well, not be honest I was going to go back to the base here soon. I would have to talk to Albert first to make sure he doenst have any objections before id allow you two to meet.

Wily - Don't be absurd boy. I've already gotten the location of the body your using to jack in with and with my network of recording programs I can use worker navis to sift through every image in the city from the last 10 years. That's 90% of every angle within the entire city limit. I've already instructed my programs to find the base you mentioned. Its only a matter of time.

X - Well, then I hope this doesn't end badly. How long was I out?

Wily - 6 hours. Fortes still gone too. That worrys me. I thought his little walk would be over by now...

X reaches down to pet Haru again. He pretends to be forgetful and impulsive but he wants to talk to Rockman again and fix his world so he can feel better about him living in isolation.

Wily drops his mouth a little in awe of the forgetful stupidity hes witnessing. Who made this program or machine as he claims to be? No one makes a machine without making a program first. He does seem to be different though, his code doesn't flow like others here. He actually seems to flow like my code does, like the virtual presences of humans when they surf around in cyberspace. Also, scanning his head region is impossible. That bothers me. Whoever this guy is, he could be powerful here or he could be as powerful as me. Which is to say, a normal human. Its impossible to tell without ...testing he he. He IS unconscious. Maybe just a few scans while he's asleep.

X dreams...

Thomas Light - You know Albert, this new Quantum technology you've discovered in Austria with that friend of yours, its going to be just the thing I need to make the AI network I've designed for X work in conjunction with nature. You've done it! Thank you old friend!

Albert sits slumped in a red barons chair from old times. Its red velvet color makes the spikey black and grey lumps of hair on Alberts head stand out even more. His gaze is fixed on a point on the floor and his eyes dont blink.

Thomas - You listening? Albert ? You ok?

Dr. Wily - I've been thinking...Thomas. I've been thinking ...a lot.

Thomas Light - What's wrong?

Dr. Wily - I'm not so sure you really ARE my friend...

Dr. Wily - I'm not so sure you are really anything but a thieving fraud!

Thomas Light - What? That's crazy I'm your best friend Albert. I will admit that without you I would not be the man I am today. But I also like to think that I have helped you discover some things too yes? Without my AI and programming skill you never would have gotten the guidance, balancing, and intuition programs to sync up. None of your bots would be what they are either.

Dr. Wily - I would have figured it out. You , you would never be able to build robots and push boundary's like I can. You know it...

Thomas Light - Well, yes...of course I do know how gifted you are Albert. Nobody better. I never wanted to compete with you. We do have slightly different visions for the way we intended to integrate humans and robots into society. I know you think humans using them for tools is just slavery but I see them as children meant to follow their parents at least for a short while. They also need to help us rebuild this world Albert. Without them, its all over for all of us. You know that...

Albert Wily - Good. Robots wont need anything but the sun. We have both ensured that solar power cells are capable of powering our super bots for eons. Self repair systems. Learning capability. Even emotional capacity. We've done everything there is to do together Light...

Thomas Light - What are you saying ? My friend... somethings wrong. Why are you so angry ? Your my brother in the field of science and my oldest friend. Whatever I've done I will do anything you ask to make it right.

Albert - Always the goodie goodie. Always in the spotlight. Always in the papers. Always doing interviews. Always building new facility's. Thomas...the biggest threat to robot life on this planet is you!

Wily stand up now and points his finger straight at his lifelong friend. The expression on his face is now something Light has never seen before. Its the look of maniacal pleasure. Wily seems to be smiling and enjoying this persecution.

Wily - You spend all day preaching about robots and humans living in harmony but all you see on TV is your precious Gutsman working all day to build castles for mankind to waste away in! The occasional girder slamming into his poor head which you made about as empty as an invalid! How DARE you purposely make a robot stupid!

Thomas Light - What are you talking about Wily? You and I both agreed that I would program him that way for personality reasons. We wanted him to be a gentle giant remember? The people are already going to be a little afraid of the size of some of our robots so in the beginning it was important to make them warm and friendly remember?

Albert Wily - Oh I remember alright! I remember how smooth you talk. How crisp your logic is. I remember it all OLD FRIEND. I remember that the whole time I didn't feel RIGHT about it! I remember that you were just that convinced that your way had to be the way we go. I felt that I had no choice but to follow you, follow the crowds of millions that follow you, follow the board of science that backs you, follow the world governments that invest in your work! Where is my lab THOMAS!? Here! Here in YOUR facility! Because my GOD you have so much money and investors. You have...power. And you know what? Its about time I got a little bit of my own!

Thomas Light - I .. ok. I understand a little of what's going on. I had no idea these things were inside you Albert. I'm so sorry...

Albert Wily - Ooooof course you are. The ever humble and humane good doctor...all of a sudden your looking like a joke Thomas... and by the way...

A little red bot peeks his face around the edge of the doorway to Lights study. Hes got a little scarf around his neck. Hes only 3 feet high...

X starts to gain a little bit of his awareness back as he now starts to manifest his own body into this dream world. He goes for the little red bot who is eavesdropping on the argument from the doorway in the back study.

X - Hey fella. You scared?

Little Red Bot nods.

X - It will be over soon. He's about to leave.

Little Red bot - Father.

X - Who ? The one with the long beard?

Little red bot shakes his head no.

X - The man with the spikey hair? The one who is so mad?

Little red bot nods.

X has a confused look on his face. He feels as if he knows things but cant quite find them in his memory. A hand is placed on X's right shoulder. Its blue.

Rockman - You shouldn't be here...

X - Rock! I found you. Who is this?

X looks down to the little red bot.

Rockman - That's the first of us X. The very first sentient robot ever made. He's your big big big brother. Kinda small at the moment huh?

X - What's his name?

Rockman - at this moment in time they haven't decided on one. and this little guy will be tinkered with a bit more before he finds his full personality so I wont tell you what he would come to be called. Instead...ill show you...

Rockman places his hand from X's shoulder to his chest and his hand starts to glow. The world around X flashes bright white until it blinds him.

X is inside a laboratory. He's not seen the place before. Its covered with open books with 10 bookmarks each stuck in various places in each book. The corners of the lab hold welding, and fabrication equipment of all shapes and sizes. Their are large robotic arms and a two story large dinosaur leg piece being suspended from the ceiling with cables and wires hanging in numbers which would require time to count. The very center of the lab holds a large operating style table. Its large enough to hold the giant dinosaur leg if need be but as of this moment it houses a smaller unit. A little red bot with a scarf around its neck has his helmet off and its right arm seems to be malfunctioning. Its twitching uncontrollably. X steps up a little closer to get a better look.

Wily - Blasted regulator! The power is too strong for any of todays blasted regulators! Ill have to design a new one from scratch but how long will that take? He's got to have the power to protect himself. I cant even get his basic body to function how am I supposed to give him the worlds most powerful blaster? Ahhh its the drawing board blues again. How many years of my life will I spend dealing with the drawing board blues? He turns off the little red bots main power coupling and the arm stops moving.

Wily walks over to an old record player. Puts this record on and pours himself a scotch.

Sweat drips once from his forehead just barely missing the glass of scotch in his left hand. Luther Johnsons - Lonesome in my bedroom starts to play...

Wily starts to sway a little, trying to relax and get into the calming spirit. He turns on the bot again. Its arm starts to twitch but Wily somehow just knows suddenly where to go. He finds the failing circuit relay and decides to change it into a permanent fused bypass circuit instead. More power. More durability. Less complex. Suddenly Wily feels inspired.

The little red bot starts to function. It shows signs of its own movement and Wily knows he's got it. He starts to sing to his new little friend...

Wily - boy i cried and I cried everynight...boys about bedtiiime... you know she didn't want meeeeee she didn't eeeeeeven want me arround...

The little red bot sits up and turns his face toward the man singing. He smiles at the old man who is also smiling at him as he sings

Wily - i said goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye woooman... I got to say goodbye...you know im tired of sleepin by myself baaaby...i got to leave you aloooone...

A bright flash of light takes X back to the study where X was first witnessing the argument with Wily and Light.

Rockman - Do you understand now? They were inseparable. These are the only moments you will ever see of that man over there showing that side of himself.

He named him...Blues...and its time for you to go..

X - no wait! i want to help you!

X wakes up on the couch with the cyberworlds Wily reading a book in his chair as he waits for his guest to come around.

X - how long this time?

Wily - Id say only about 30 minutes or so.

X - That matches up with my chronometer. Seems my systems are calibrating to this new phase. I still didn't get to stay long enough to do what I wanted though. He seemed to push me out this time. Did he push me out last time? Why did I see all that ? X runs about 10 more questions in his head before Wily waves his hand in front of his own face to show he notices the long daydream X is in.

Wily - I think its time you leave. And don't even think about taking the cat. Everyone seems to be after my cat lately...

Haru meows and hops down off the couch next to X and hops up on Wily's shoulder and then climbs up to his head and plops down with her two front paws hanging to the left and right of Wily's eyes so he can see but he's robbed of his periphery vision.

Wily misses the feeling of embarrassment and the warmth of Harus body on his bald head. Cyberspace has come such a long way thanks to Wily. Little did this world know just how much of his technology he planted in the business world so he could have his worldwide network of virtual reality surfing come true. He can feel everything as if its real. X looks at Wily and even though they have different faces and demeanors, seeing a cat on Wily's head like this makes X bust out laughing.

Wily smiles and X suddenly sees a kind old man with a cat on his head and not the Wily of his time. Speaking of which...

X stands up ..

X - Its time to go back.

Wily - yes boy. It is. and good luck to you.

Haru meows

X - Goodbye

X waves to the both of them and shuts the door gently behind him. Its night time in the cyberworld. He's gotten more clues as to what's going on inside his head with Rockman and his own uneasiness. He still hasn't understood why he went mad in his simulated universe when his limiters were offline. He feels though it might be connected somehow to Rockman and his past. He said my feelings make up his world in there. That didn't seem like anything I created this last time though. Was he lying? I need to get back to the others.

X walks with his gaze to the ground and in deep thought when he almost runs into Forte who is making his way back to Wily's place for Haru and probably one last confrontation with Wily..

X jumps a little to the side , startled .

X - I'm sorry, excuse me.

Forte - ...

Forte walks past, opens the front door of Wily's and enters...

X heads for the base outside the city limits when standing only 10 feet away are Zero, Rush and Serges...

Zero - There he is!

X - Everyone!

X smiles as bright as anyone can for all his friends to see..


End file.
